Implementation Science

Critically explores theories and strategies of implementation science and how they are or could be applied in practice.

Paul Wilson (Author), Roman Kislov (Author)

9781009237086, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 November 2022

75 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 0.5 cm, 0.106 kg

This Element introduces and critically reflects on the contribution of implementation science to healthcare improvement efforts. Grounded in several disciplines, implementation science is the study of strategies to promote the uptake of evidence-based interventions into healthcare practice and policy. The field's focus is threefold. First, it encompasses theory and empirical research focused on exploring, identifying, and understanding the systems, behaviours, and practices that influence successful implementation. Second, it examines the evaluation of strategies to address barriers or enablers to implementation in a given context. Last, it increasingly seeks to understand the process of implementation itself: what actually gets implemented, and when, why, and how? Despite the growing body of evidence, challenges remain. Many important messages remain buried in the literature, and their impact on implementation efforts in routine practice may be limited. The challenge is not just to get evidence into practice, but also to get implementation science into practice. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

1. Introduction
2. What is Implementation Science?
3. A Brief History of Implementation Science
4. Implementation Science in Action
5. Critiques of Implementation Science
6. Conclusions
7. Further Reading
Contributors
References.

Subject Areas: Health systems & services [MBP], Public health & preventive medicine [MBN], Medical research [MBGR]