SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PRACTICE FACILITATION (ICPF) FOCUSES ON BUILDING CAPACITY

Conference attendees, contributors, and organizers of the second International Conference on Practice Facilitation (ICPF), held December 10 and 11, 2018 in Tampa, Florida, continue to collaborate and innovate to advance the field of practice facilitation. With ongoing support from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG), this annual conference aims to recognize and address the needs of the professional community of practice facilitators (PFs) by advancing the science and best practices of facilitation.

Building on our success in 2017,¹ the 2018 ICPF was designed to include highly interactive and informative content, aligned with the main theme of “Building Capacity for Practice Facilitation.” Sessions based on peer-reviewed abstracts addressed 6 topics: (1) Developing Best Practices and Resources for Practice Facilitation, (2) Practice Facilitator Training and Ongoing Development, (3) Practice Facilitator Skill Building, (4) Sustaining and Managing Practice Facilitation Programs, (5) Advancing the Science of Practice Facilitation, and (6) Leveraging Technology in Practice Facilitation. Attendees represented more than 90 different programs hailing from the United States, Canada, and Australia and included PFs, program managers, and scientists representing a range of experience and expertise.

Formal evaluations (from almost 50% of the 146 registrants) plus informal feedback demonstrated high levels of satisfaction with conference content, structure, and composition of the attendees. The inclusive and interactive nature of the conference is illustrated by the following participant comments:

• “I like the varied conference setup and how there are concurrent sessions with different format/topics -there was something for everyone.”

• “Inclusiveness of attendees with a range of backgrounds [was the most valuable].”

• “I found myself talking much more than just simply listening, like we usually do at most conferences. It is very interactive!”

The first plenary on Day 1 titled “What’s This Thing Called Facilitation…?” by Alison Kitson, RN, BSc, PhD, FRCN focused on the integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (i-PARIHS) framework, a pragmatic approach to link facilitation approaches to the implementation strategy and context. Workshops and skill labs, oral presentations, and poster sessions followed on topics such as system context, education, and technology. The day concluded with a Learning Community general session facilitated by Melinda Davis, PhD and Jen Reese, RN CRN, CPF, where cases representing common PF challenges were presented and discussed with the audience and expert panelists. Happy hour and dine-around groups wrapped up the day’s events.

On day 2, JoAnn Kirchner, MD presented Plenary II: “Facilitation Tools and Processes to Help us Change the World!” Dr. Kirchner discussed how facilitation models have varied in application within research and clinical settings with a description of tools and processes that support facilitation, evaluation of activities and cost, and real-world spread and handoff to clinical and operational leaders. Workshops and oral presentations were presented on themes including quality improvement, implementation, methodology, and PF roles.

Evaluation results and comments highlighted new knowledge and skills that attendees intend to apply in the workplace, such as using motivational interviewing, using existing tools to track encounters, or applying frameworks. Others noted their intent to help build PF capacity through “helping organizations develop their own facilitation program” or “going to leadership to discuss developing (formally) a practice facilitation program.” Attendees were also positive about the learning community and noted how the ICPF structure, flow, and content provided opportunities to strengthen interpersonal relationships and engage in profession-building activities, as illustrated in these comments:

• “The opportunity to soak in valuable and practical information and to interface with others in small-group settings was excellent!”

• “Sessions that shared tools particularly software and research projects to advance work of PF [were most valuable].”

• “The contacts, information, and ideas from brainstorming with other PFs [were] invaluable. I would love the opportunity to attend this conference again.”

We intend to continue to interact and share knowledge, resources, and expertise for PFs beyond the annual meeting. Through the Learning Community, ICPF participants have an unprecedented opportunity to help shape the development of a new health care profession. The ICPF provides excellent networking opportunities and helps to develop leaders in the application, management, and study of practice facilitation. On behalf of the ICPF Steering Committee, we invite you to attend ICPF 2019, which will be held in Bethesda, Maryland on June 26-27, with the theme “Practice Facilitation in the Context of Community.”

Plenary presentation videos are available on the NAPCRG website (https://www.napcrg.org/conferences/icpf/pastconferences/2018/).

• © 2019 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.