From: A realist evaluation of the role of communities of practice in changing healthcare practice
Characteristic | Findings from the literature review |
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Membership and practice | • One becomes a member through shared practice [32] • CoPs help establish professional identity [7] • Members have a common goal or purpose [32] • Membership often crossed geographical, professional, and/or organisational boundaries [6] • Membership group and size is not fixed and can vary from time to time [6, 33] • The focus of the group may vary over time [33] |
Activities and communication methods | • Members exchange knowledge through formal and informal processes. Formal methods of interaction include face-to-face meetings within or external to usual workplace and/or virtual methods that include communication via email and/or blogs [6] • Social interaction, in person or through the use of communication technology, is an important feature of a CoP identity [7] |
Origin | • Spontaneous origin or established as a management initiative [6] • CoPs have five stages of development: potential, coalescing, maturing, stewardship, and transformation [2] |
Determinants of success | • A committed facilitator [6] • Shared purpose [34] • Commitment and enthusiasm from the members [34] • Endorsement of the CoP from senior management and alignment of the CoP objectives with the organisation goals [35, 36] • A CoP with self-selected membership may be more successful than a CoP with externally appointed members [34] • Regular communication with, and interaction between members [37] • Developing relationships through face-to-face interactions, even to start with, is important [36] • Infrastructure to support the work of the CoP in terms of ease of access to knowledge or evidence [34] |