Table 2 Contents of field guide

Site visit plan

Plan of work for each day of an average 2-day site visit.

Site schedule

Provided by site.

Site summary and results

Overview of site projects including intervention descriptions, interim and final reports, internal evaluation/quality improvement findings, and quantitative data on process and outcome measures (generally pre-post data) which we analyzed to standardize outcomes and findings across the four sites.

Informant list

List of key informants and people involved in the site project, including list of people to be interviewed.

Questions for site team during Q&A

Questions for clarification posed to the site team to answer during first half day which typically included presentations.

Focus questions

The main questions that the evaluation sought to address.

Hospital site profile instrument

Profile initially completed by evaluation team which gave a contextual overview of that site. Given to the site lead during the visit for completion and accuracy check.

Interview guides

Topic and question guide for: site principal investigators and co-investigators, project managers, clinician leaders, administrative leaders, implementers, chief quality officers, patient, and family advisers. Questions were driven by CFIR and RE-AIM concepts and included the following topics:

• Background questions about the person’s role in the project;

• What interventions were implemented and why;

• How implementation of the project went, including: whether it went as planned; adoption and adaptation of the interventions; barriers and facilitators; influence of organizational culture and infrastructure; resources needed for implementation; and potential for maintenance of the interventions; and

• Spread and scalability of the project within and outside the organization.

Field survey form

Administered to ICU staff/providers about their experience of using the interventions during observational periods. Contained structured questions and open-ended questions to be used as suitable.

Field note form

Observational notes were recorded on blank paper and notes summarized using the field note form.

Implementation analysis chart

For team summarization of findings and interpretations from interviews or observations in a structured way to facilitate further analysis.

CFIR constructs and RE-AIM framework

Printouts of the frameworks and construct definitions as a reference sheet.