Tiny Talks, Big Results: Demystifying the Implementation of Best Practice Across Pediatric Settings

Implementing the best available evidence in pediatric physical therapy is critical to optimizing child and family outcomes and service delivery across practice settings. Although skills in finding and appraising evidence and awareness of knowledge translation have grown over the past decade, therapists often struggle to implement evidence-informed practices in their own settings. Using a systematic approach to supporting practice change informed by the Knowledge to Action (KTA) cycle can help therapists anticipate and address barriers to change, gain buy-in by engaging key knowledge users, allies, and partners, and demonstrate impact by collecting data on outcomes. In this session, we will engage participants in discussion and application of lessons learned from three real-world implementation projects that highlight implementation strategies in different stages of the KTA cycle: 1) a standing program in a public school system, 2) a multidisciplinary standard of care for children with spinal cord dysfunction in acute care, and 3) the use of a standardized measure of gross motor development for infants referred to outpatient therapy for congenital muscular torticollis. Speakers will share experiences in identifying a knowledge gap, formulating an evidence-informed actionable key message, adapting the key message to their organization or practice setting, assessing facilitators and barriers to change, selecting strategies and interventions to support practice change, and monitoring, evaluating, and sustaining change following implementation. Participants will integrate the wisdom, approaches, and lessons learned from these projects by collaborating with peers to apply the KTA cycle for an early intervention case scenario.