Guides: Implementation Science Resources for the Health Sciences: Home

Implementation Science Resources from the Penn Libraries

Comparative Effectiveness Research in Health Services by Edited by Adrian Levy and Boris Sobolev
ISBN: 9781489975867

Publication Date: 2020

The online version of the Handbook of Health Services Research is in the format of a dynamically updated knowledge base, offering search tools, cross-referencing across chapters and linking to supplement data, other major reference works and external articles. The Handbook of Health Services Research is accessible at the level of graduate students even if it is not their focus area. This includes students with various backgrounds: medicine, public health, statistics, economics, management or information technology
Dissemination and implementation research in health : translating science to practice by Ross C. Brownson, Graham A. Colditz, and Enola K. Proctor
ISBN: 9780190683245

Publication Date: 2017

Implementation Science at a Glance: a guide for cancer control practitioners
This resource, Implementation Science at a Glance, is intended to help practitioners and policy makers gain familiarity with the building blocks of implementation science. Developed by our team and informed by our ongoing collaborations with practitioners and policy makers, Implementation Science at a Glance introduces core implementation science concepts, tools, and resources.

Transforming Nursing Through Knowledge by Doris Grinspun
ISBN: 9781945157639

Publication Date: 2018-01-01

Transforming Nursing Through Knowledge leaves no stone unturned, allowing readers to gain a full understanding of a nurse's role in developing, using, and evaluating the impact of knowledge tools in healthcare. (ebook forthcoming)

Implementation Research in Health: A Practical Guide

Implementation Science and Practice
ISBN: 9780195389678

Publication Date: 2012

Bibliography of implementation science in social work.
Dissemination and implementation research in health: translating science to practice
ISBN: 0190683244

Publication Date: 2017

leading scholars and researchers have collaborated to put together this volume to address a number of key issues in Dissemination and Implementation Research.
Handbook on Implementation Science by Per Nilsen (Editor); Sarah A. Birken (Editor)
ISBN: 9781788975988

Publication Date: 2020-05-21

The Handbook on Implementation Science provides an overview of the field's multidisciplinary history, theoretical approaches, key concepts, perspectives, and methods. By drawing on knowledge concerning learning, habits, organizational theory, improvement science, and policy research, the Handbook offers novel perspectives from a broad group of international experts in the field representing diverse disciplines. The editors and contributors seek to advance implementation science through careful consideration of current thinking and recommendations for future directions. Featured key concepts include strategies, context, outcomes, fidelity, adaptation, and sustainability. Chapters introduce topics, define them, and explain their application in implementation science with examples that resonate with a diverse readership including implementation researchers, instructors, students, and practitioners with experience in the field ranging from novices to experienced scholars.

Core Competencies for Implementation
Primer on applying implementation science, from TCI and Health Canada

Seminal Journal Articles on Implementation Science

Isolation of health services research from practice and policy: the example of chronic heart failure management. Seow, Phillips et al. (2006)
This study examined how health services research connects with practice and policy, first by investigating whether successful research projects continued in their test settings and
engendered replication and then by examining whether a coherent body of research helped shape public policy. Chronic heart failure (CHF) was studied because randomized, controlled trials of posthospital CHF disease management have repeatedly demonstrated patient benefits and reduced costs, yet this practice has not become standard in the United States

more... less...

J Am Geriatr Soc. 2006 Mar;54(3):535-40.
Isolation of health services research from practice and policy: the example of chronic heart failure management.
Seow H1, Phillips CO, Rich MW, Spertus JA, Krumholz HM, Lynn J.
The Break-Even Point: when medical advances are less important than improving the fidelity with which they are delivered. Woolf and Johnson. (2006)
Society invests billions of dollars in the development of new drugs and technologies but comparatively little in the fidelity of health care, that is, improving systems to ensure the delivery of care to all patients in need. Using mathematical arguments and a nomogram, we demonstrate that technological advances must yield dramatic, often unrealistic increases in efficacy to do more good than could be accomplished by improving fidelity. In 2 examples (the development of anti-platelet agents and statins), we show that enhanced efficacy failed to achieve the health gains that would have occurred by delivering older agents to all eligible patients.

more... less...

Ann Fam Med. 2005 Nov-Dec;3(6):545-52.
The break-even point: when medical advances are less important than improving the fidelity with which they are delivered.
Woolf SH, Johnson RE.
The Meaning of Translational Research and Why It Matters. Woolf. (2008)
What exactly is translational research? For many, the term refers to the “bench-to-bedside” enterprise of harnessing knowledge from basic sciences to produce new drugs, devices, and treatment options for patients. For this area of research—the interface between basic science and clinical medicine—the end point is the production of a promising new treatment that can be used clinically or commercialized (“brought to market”).

more... less...

JAMA. 2008 Jan 9;299(2):211-3. doi: 10.1001/jama.2007.26.
The meaning of translational research and why it matters.
Woolf SH
Diffusion of innovations in service organizations: Systematic review and recommendations. Greenhalgh. (2004)
This article summarizes an extensive literature review addressing the question, How can we spread and sustain innovations in health service delivery and organization? It considers both content (defining and measuring the diffusion of innovation in organizations) and process (reviewing the literature in a systematic and reproducible way).

more... less...

Greenhalgh, T., G. Robert, F. Macfarlane, P. Bate, and O. Kyriakidou. 2004. Diffusion of innovations in service organizations:
Systematic review and recommendations. The Milbank Quarterly 82.4:
Implementation research: what it is and how to do it
Implementation research is a growing but not well understood field of health research that can contribute to more effective public health and clinical policies and programmes.This article provides a broad definition of implementation research and outlines key principles for how to do it

Recent Implementation Science Publications from Penn Researchers (Pubmed RSS Feed)

Implementation Science Journals and Organizations

Penn Implementation Science Center
National Implementation Research Network
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
Implementation Research Institute
Global Implementation Society
U. of Washington Implementation Science Resource Hub
Implementation Science (BioMed Central)
Implementation Science Communications (BioMed Central)
Implementation Research and Practice
Open-access, international journal, jointly published by SAGE and the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC). First published 2020.
Center for Implementation

Penn Implementation Science Greatest Hits Reading list

Eccles and Mittman: Welcome to Implementation Science
This commentary introduced the journal Implementation Science and includes definitions and a brief history of the field.

more... less...

Implement Sci. 2006,1:1
DOI: 10.1186/1748-5908-1-1
Bauer, Damschroder et al. An Introduction to implementation science for the non-specialist
This review defines implementation science, distinguishes it from interventional research, explains the importance of frameworks, theories, and models, and reviews study designs used in implementation science research studies.

more... less...

BMC Psychology. 2015:3(32)
DOI: 10.1186/s40359-015-0089-9
Curran GM. Implementation science made too simple: a teaching tool.This teaching tool simply describes implementation science.
This teaching tool simply describes implementation science.

more... less...

Implementation Science Communications. 2020 Dec;1(1):1-3.
DOI: 10.1186/s43058-020-00001-z
Lane-Fall MB, Curran GM, Beidas RS. Scoping implementation science for the beginner: locating yourself on the “subway line” of translational research.
This teaching tool helps you place your research questions on the “implementation science subway line.”

more... less...

BMC medical research methodology. 2019 Dec;19(1):133.
DOI: 10.1186/s12874-019-0783-z
Nilsen, P. Making sense of implementation theories, models and frameworks.
This review acknowledges that there are many frameworks, theories, and models (FTMs) used in implementation science and establishes a three-part taxonomy of these FTMs: process models, determinant frameworks, and evaluation models.

more... less...

Implement Sci. 2015;10:53
DOI: 10.1186/s13012-015-0242-0
Damschroder LJ, Aron DC, Keith RE, Kirsh SR, Alexander JA, Lowery JC. Fostering implementation of health services research findings into practice: a consolidated framework for advancing implementation science.
This paper introduced what is now one of the most popular frameworks in implementation science: CFIR (pronounced “SEE-fur”), the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.

more... less...

Implement Sci. 2009;4:50.
DOI: 10.1186/1748-5908-4-50
Tabak RG, Khong EC, Chambers DA, Brownson RC. Bridging research and practice: models for dissemination and implementation research.
This paper discusses the utility of frameworks, theories, and models (FTMs) in implementation science and offers an inventory of FTMs. Consider reading this paper after the Per Nilsen paper (above)

more... less...

Am J Prev Med. 2012;43:337-350.
DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2012.05.024
Strifler L, Cardoso R, et al. Scoping review identifies significant number of knowledge translation theories, models, and frameworks with limited use.
This paper provides an update to the literature on the current inventory of FTMs. (subscription access article)

more... less...

Journal of clinical epidemiology. 2018 Aug 1;100:92-102.
10.1016/j.jclinepi.2018.04.008
An Overview of Research and Evaluation for Dissemination and Implementation
This paper is a broad overview of research designs relevant to implementation science, discussing challenges including threats to validity.
Effectiveness-implementation Hybrid Designs
This paper introduces the concept of “hybrid trials” that have a dual focus: intervention effectiveness and implementation strategy.
Innovations in Mixed-Methods Evaluations
This article reviews the use of mixed methods in IS research and explains different types of mixed methods research.
Outcomes for Implementation Research: Conceptual distinctions, measurement challenges, and research agenda
This seminal paper introduces and defines eight implementation outcomes: acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, costs, feasibility, fidelity, penetration, and sustainability.
Psychometric Assessment of three newly developed implementation science outcome measures
This paper provides psychometric properties of 3 brief pragmatic measures of implementation outcomes
A compilation of strategies for implementing clinical innovations in health and mental health.
This article discusses six categories of implementation strategies: Planning, Education, Financing, Restructuring, Quality Management, and Policy.
Choosing implementation strategies to address contextual barriers: diversity in recommendations and future directions.
This paper describes how one might match implementation strategies to determinants.
. Writing implementation research grant proposals: ten key ingredients
This paper offers guidance to people writing grant proposals that include or focus on implementation.

Implementation Science Resources for the Health Sciences: Home

What is Implementation Science

"Implementation science is the study of methods that influence the integration of evidence-based interventions into practice settings."

Implementation Science Resources from the Penn Libraries

Seminal Journal Articles on Implementation Science

Recent Implementation Science Publications from Penn Researchers (Pubmed RSS Feed)

Implementation Science Journals and Organizations

Penn Implementation Science Greatest Hits Reading list