Evidence into practice
This section is about implementing in practice what you have found in your research. Implementation is the most difficult part and is considered by some a combination of art and science to overcome the barriers. It involves tailoring your approaches and a great deal of communication and coproduction.
Implementing knowledge in action
We know from the evidence that we need to do more to bridge the knowledge practice gap and that the routine implementation of best practice and guidance is challenging. We also know there is a significant time lag to get research used in practice.
The Knowledge into Action review and implementation plan 2013-16 highlighted a process to support the Scottish Government's Quality Strategy. The final report of this plan illustrates examples of the elements of the process and how they have supported decision making and improvements. Find these documents on The Knowledge Network About pages.
Implementing knowledge in action is challenging as it requires combining sound evidence from research with the experience of the people involved and the local context. This relies on a digital infrastructure to access the content and the support of people with a knowledge brokering role to help and guide the workforce.
A range of people and techniques are available to support change in practice and implementation of improvement science within organisations. More information about tools you can use are available on the Quality Improvement Zone.
Improvement science includes all aspects of research into the strategies in healthcare, systems, safety and policy which advance healthcare quality and safety. The QI Zone provides a structured approach to support individuals and teams to test, implement and spread sustainable improvement across a system.
You will also find advice about managing your findings and evidencing impact in the sections below.
Manage your findings
Tools and techniques to help you compare what you find from published literature and the experience of others with your own practice and that of your colleagues.
Evidence of impact
Ideas for evaluating the impact of knowledge into action/ knowledge management approaches to build an evidence base.
