Middle-range theory realist review for innovations
This project will analyse middle range theories (MRTs) that support the design, implementation and evaluation of same day, urgent and emergency care service initiatives and the workforce that deliver them.
MRTs are theoretical constructs that bridge the gap between specific everyday observations and the high-level abstract theories that seek to explain social reality. MRTs provide a targeted and testable approach to understanding particular phenomena.
This realist review will adopt a theory-driven approach to reviewing literature. We will seek to understand how MRTs can be used to create causal explanations about how complex interventions interact with the workforce providing them.
We will harness MRTs from the published literature and link these to current understanding of the service architecture for workforce recruitment, development and retention. We will capture MRTs in key subject areas of relevance to the same day, urgent and emergency care system and build causal thinking on mechanisms and contexts in relation to outcomes.
The review will be conducted in five stages:
- Establishing MRT subject areas for scoping through a prioritisation exercise with SURGE partners
- Searching for literature using academic database, internet search engine strategies, and expert solicitation
- Applying a reverse chronology quota approach to record screening on the search results
- Retrieving additional papers through hand searching and backward citation tracking
- Synthesising papers using an analytical appraisal journal and presenting findings to stakeholders
Outputs will include one or more publications describing the results of the review including description of the MRTs retained and the realist analysis demonstrating how the conceptualisations within the theories will support the advancement, measurements and evaluation of innovations in same day, urgent and emergency care services.
The findings will be used to inform the analysis and interpretation of data collected in further SURGE projects. This study will run until December 2025 as part of the wider SURGE partnership.
