HSRN Symposium 2014
Title: Improving quality through interdisciplinarity: the account of a collaboration between operational
researchers and social scientists
Authors: Sonya Crowe1*, Simon Turner2*, Martin Utley1, Naomi Fulop2
Institution: 1Clinical Operational Research Unit, University College London
2
Department of Applied Health Research, University College London
Job title: Health Foundation improvement science fellow and senior research associate in operational
research
Email address: sonya.crowe@ucl.ac.uk
Abstract (~ 250 words)
Background (~ 50 words)
Interdisciplinarity is increasingly advocated by practitioners and funders in applied health research and
quality improvement as a way of addressing complex problems that straddle traditional disciplinary
boundaries. Our objective is to generate insights about the potential for interdisciplinarity to support
improvement, and the challenges that it presents, through examining the enactment of interdisciplinarity
within an on-going quality improvement collaboration.
Methods (~ 80 words)
We use an autoethnographic approach to study an operational researcher and qualitative social scientist
collaborating to enhance the value of modelling intended to inform the development of proposals for
improving the quality of infant cardiac surgery follow-up services. Autoethnographic material has been
recorded in reflexive journals to describe our experiences enacting this interdisciplinary collaboration, for
example in the course of conducting fieldwork and debriefing afterwards.
Results (~ 90 words)
We present a framework for supporting discussions or “debriefs” following episodes of fieldwork that
revolve around the use of qualitative methods and social science theory as potential means to enhance
operational research’s potential for quality improvement. We discuss changes in the practice of the
operational researcher concerned, the benefits in terms of supporting quality improvement, and challenges
arising in the collaborative process. For example, ethnographic methods employed by the operational
researcher have generated insights regarding, and a means for more effectively challenging, a lack of
clarity about the appropriate use of data for QI amongst her collaborators.
Implications (~ 30 words)
This work provides insights into the potential benefits of interdisciplinarity as a means for improving quality,
and the challenges that such an approach can involve.