Evidence Hub

Developing an online knowledge sharing platform and community of practice for health professionals: Experiences from C-WorKS developed in North East England and Yorkshire during COVID-19

Quick-read summary

We evaluated an online knowledge sharing platform and community of practice called C-WorKS, which was developed in the North East of England and Yorkshire during COVID-19 to support UK health and care professionals to reduce the impact of the wider consequences of COVID-19.

Interview and survey findings with developers and users highlighted several strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to support future development of online knowledge sharing platforms.

Our study provides practical insights in how to develop and implement a knowledge sharing platform, combined with a community of practice, addressing challenges identified in the literature around leadership and sustainability.

Who is this evidence useful for?

Health professionals interested in developing and implementing online knowledge sharing platforms in the UK to support the rapid use of evidence in practice.

What is the issue

Although knowledge sharing online has been recognised as an important strategy for health professionals to apply research findings to their practice, limited research exists on how to develop and implement these platforms to help facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Our study addresses this gap by reporting and reflecting on the findings of an evaluation of an online knowledge sharing platform and community developed in the North East of England and Yorkshire (NE&Y).

C-WorKS was developed in early 2020 by a partnership of organisations including the former Public Health England (PHE), the National Health Service, academics and other public and third sector organisations, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This aim of the platform is reflected in its name; the acronym C-WorKS stands for Covid-consequences: Want it? OR Know it. Share it!

The platform was developed in response to an urgent need identified across various health organisations in the North East and Yorkshire to collate and share new knowledge and intelligence created in response to COVID-19 in the region, and to collaborate across organisational and sector boundaries.

The lack of a sharing platform hindered learning at system level and the development of more effective, efficient and equitable responses to the pandemic.

Research summary

The study applied a mixed methods design focusing on both the development and implementation process and outcomes of C-WorKS, combining interviews with stakeholders, users, and a social network survey.

• Semi-structured online interviews were undertaken with a sample of key stakeholders between October and December 2021 about their experiences of developing and implementing C-WorKS, including key lessons, barriers and facilitators.
• These interviews were followed-up by semi-structured online interviews and email exchanges with a sample of C-WorKS users to explore knowledge use and impact upon practice.
• The results of the interviews informed an online survey to conduct a social network analysis and map the reach and connectivity of the C-WorKS community.

What the research found

Interview and survey findings highlighted several strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, summarised in the table below, to support future development of online knowledge sharing platforms.

Our SWOT analyses provides transferable learning for other knowledge sharing platforms and communities of practice:

• Online knowledge sharing platforms provide health professionals with a pragmatic and timely strategy for applying research evidence and other types of knowledge to their practice.
• Successful online knowledge sharing platforms should be built on six pillars: purpose, leadership, inclusion and personalisation, skills and capability, data and technology infrastructure, and evidence-based decision-making.
• As platforms develop, distributed leadership among member organisations is needed to increase capacity and motivation for sustained involvement, and to reduce organisational resistance to practice recommendations (new 7th pillar).
• Combining data platforms with communities of practice reduces information overload, increases accessibility and traffic, while supporting members in applying knowledge and collaborating across organisational boundaries.

Why is this important?

Hardly any practical examples exist on how to develop and implement online knowledge sharing platforms within a health context and often originate from outside the UK. To our knowledge this is the first study in the UK of these platforms. Our study provides generalisable, practical insights in how to develop and implement a knowledge sharing platform.

With the increased importance of data and intelligence post-pandemic, and health professionals lacking capacity to systematically search for and apply this data, the knowledge brokering role of these platforms and communities will only increase

What’s next?

• Maintain the cross-organisational governance structure of C-WorKS to ensure ongoing effective communication, shared decision making, and partnership working.
• Explore a partnership with the ICBs NENC & Yorkshire to sustain resources for C-WorKS, tailored to this new structure, including identifying and prioritising new topics for resources and events.
• Continue to develop engagement and communication opportunities for users outside the platform to drive new users to the platform.
• Explore an alternative hosting platform for C-WorKS that is inclusive to both NHS and non-NHS users, with greater accessibility and navigation, options for sharing and promoting resources from C-WorKS with colleagues, and for monitoring access and use by the project team.
• Explore opportunities for future research on C-WorKS, particularly on how the platform and community connects people and enables them to share knowledge to inform practice and decision making.

Get in touch about this research

Email Peter van der Graaf at [email protected]

Twitter: @pvandergraaf75

Read the full research paper: Developing an online knowledge sharing platform and community of practice for health professionals: Experiences from C-WorKS developed in North East England and Yorkshire during COVID-19: Published in the Health Information and Libraries Journal, February 2024

Study contributors

Andrea Burrows, Teesside University

Dr Helen Park, Public Health England North East and Yorkshire

Dr Sarah Sowden, Office of Health Inequalities and Disparities (OHID)/ Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University