Fundamentals of Implementation Research for changing clinical practice

Abstract

Background: To the frustration of many citizens, health professionals, scientists, and policymakers, only a small proportion of research findings are translated into practice. Furthermore, the effectiveness of “proven interventions” usually goes down when applied in routine clinical settings. These realities require a paradigm shift, from Evidence-Based Medicine to Implementation Research, which investigates (a) how to facilitate the adoption of evidence-based innovations into clinical practice, (b) how preventive, diagnostic, and/or therapeutic procedures be appropriately applied in a systematic and sustainable way to all patients likely to benefit from them, and (c) how to promote de-implementation of harmful, ineffective, or inefficient interventions. Aims and objectives: After the workshop participants will be better able to: Define implementation research as a field that is separate from, but complementary to clinical and health services research Understand what implementation strategies are and the fundamentals of implementation research Identify different approaches used to evaluate implementation strategies Format: This workshop will be lead by 4 professionals (Gonzalo Grandes, Alvaro Sánchez, Susana Pablo and Heather Rogers, from the Primary Care Research Unit of Bizkaia, BioCruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Osakidetza) experienced in designing and carrying out implementation research. This participatory workshop is composed of three main parts. In a first part of 20-minute, GG will provide an overview introducing what Implementation Research is and how it compares and contrasts with clinical and health service research. SP will provide a clear definition and description of common implementation strategies. The second and main part of the workshop will be dedicated to parallel breakout of attendees in small groups lead by workshop presenters. Each group will work together to define and operationalize an implementation strategy to facilitate the adoption of an intervention, program, or policy identified in each group (25 minutes). Each group will provide a summary report to the larger group and engage in an interactive discussion (25 minutes). Finally, during the last 20 minutes, AS will present the most useful theories, models, and frameworks for guiding the design of implementation strategies to improve health care practice and HR will briefly describe methodological procedures for evaluating them. A summary of main take-away findings from the participants will close the workshop. (See the workshop program in the attached File). Target audience: The workshop is open to all conference participants. It would be desirable for the attendee to have identified a specific change in clinical practice, public health practice, health policy, or in the organization of health services that they want to address through implementation research. Learnings/take away: The purpose of this workshop is to disseminate the fundamentals of implementation research among healthcare professionals, managers, and researchers, and to prepare attendees to be able to disseminate and share the knowledge acquired, and thus cultivating and promoting interest in conducting implementation research at their home institutions.

Keywords

• implementation research
• knowledge translation
• improvement science