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We cannot pick up a magazine or surf the Internet without facing reminders of the challenges to health care and the "sorry state" of health systems.1 All health care systems are faced with the challenges of improving quality of care and reducing the risk of adverse events.2 Globally, health systems fail to use evidence optimally. The result is inefficiency and a reduction in both quantity and quality of life.3,4 For example, McGlynn and colleagues5 found that adults in the United States received less than 55% of recommended care. Providing evidence from clinical research (e.g., through publication in journals) is necessary but not enough for the provision of optimal care. Recognition of this issue has created interest in knowledge translation, also known as KT, which we define as the methods for closing the gaps from knowledge to practice. In this series of articles, we will provide a framework for implementing knowledge for clinicians, managers and policy-makers.
What is knowledge translation?
Many terms have been used to describe the process of putting knowledge into action.6 In their work to create a search filter for knowledge translation, McKibbon and colleagues have so far identified more than 90 terms for use of research (Dr. Ann McKibbon, McMaster University: unpublished data, 2009)! In the United Kingdom and Europe, the terms implementation science or research utilization are commonly used. In the United States, the terms dissemination and diffusion, research use, and knowledge transfer and uptake are often used. In Canada, the terms knowledge transfer and exchange and knowledge translation are commonly used. Knowledge translation has been adopted in Canada because translation of research is embedded in the mandate of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (the federal agency for the funding of health research). In this series, we use the terms knowledge translation and knowledge-to-action interchangeably.
Formally, knowledge translation is defined by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as a dynamic and iterative process that includes the synthesis, dissemination, exchange and ethically sound application of knowledge to improve health, provide more effective health services and products, and strengthen the health care system. This definition has been adapted by others, including the United States National Center for Dissemination of Disability Research and the World Health Organization (WHO). The common element among these...