Implementation Science Terminology (but simple)

Posted by Ross Prager on

Implementation science helps bridge the gap between research and clinical practice. It focuses on how to get people (or places) to adopt an intervention, practice, or innovation. Unfortunately, complex jargon makes the field daunting and at times challenging for newcomers. Recognizing this challenge, Geoffrey M. Curran developed a teaching tool that simplifies the core concepts of implementation science using plain, jargon-free language.

The Teaching Tool

The cornerstone of Curran’s teaching tool is a singular slide – a visual representation that condenses the fundamental principles of implementation science into easily digestible components. This slide serves as a gateway to understanding the field, breaking down intricate ideas into basic concepts.

1. Defining ‘The Thing’: The slide introduces the concept of ‘The Thing’ – a term used to represent any intervention, practice, or innovation that requires implementation.

2. Effectiveness Research vs. Implementation Science: The next step involves differentiating between effectiveness research and implementation science. Effectiveness research is concerned with whether ‘The Thing’ works – does it achieve the desired outcomes in clinical or preventive settings? In contrast, implementation science focuses on ‘how to do The Thing’ – the methods and processes involved in successfully implementing the intervention in real-world settings.

3. Implementation Strategies: The tool then introduces the concept of implementation strategies, described as ‘the stuff we do to try to help people and places do The Thing.’ These help adopt and integrate ‘The Thing’ into practice.

4. Implementation Outcomes: Finally, implementation outcomes are measures of ‘how much and how well they do The Thing.’ These outcomes are distinct from the results of effectiveness research, focusing instead on the extent and quality of the implementation process itself.

Slide outlining core terminology for implementation science
Image obtained from Implementation Science made too simple: a teaching tool by Geoffrey Curran and reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

Key Take Homes

Implementation science can be hard, but the first step in mastering it starts with understanding the core terminology. Once we differentiate ‘The Thing’ from how we help people adopt ‘The Thing’ into practice, we can implement strategies in our own practices and organizations that support evidence based practice.

Want to learn more? First, learn where your research fits along the ‘subway line’ of implementation science (a fantastic paper!) Also, check out my previous post on Knowledge Translation (KT) to start seeing the parallels and overlapping between KT and implementation science.