Translating evidence into practice

Appropriately designed and conducted research is necessary for improving patient care and optimizing health outcomes, but access to best evidence is not enough to make these things happen. In respiratory care, as in other fields, patients do not benefit as much as they should from research findings and evidence-based practice guidelines. Current standards for the diagnosis, staging, and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are based in large part on the results of spirometry, yet most patients carrying this diagnosis have not had this test performed. Despite compelling evidence that it saves lives, reduces complications, and decreases costs in acute respiratory failure complicating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, noninvasive ventilation is not used in a large proportion of such cases. Lung-protective ventilation for acute lung injury and the acute respiratory distress syndrome also increases survival, decreases complications, and is cost-effective, yet many patients who stand to benefit do not receive it. Clinicians may not be aware of practice guidelines or be familiar with their recommendations; they may not agree with the recommendations, or have insufficient expectation that management according to the guideline will work; they may consider the guideline too complicated or difficult to use in their own practices; patient-related factors may interfere; and changing established practice is often difficult. Overcoming these and other barriers to best practice is the focus of knowledge translation, which recognizes the need for involvement of every aspect of health care and seeks to integrate them effectively. This paper discusses the challenges faced by knowledge translation, provides examples of its successful application in respiratory care, and summarizes what needs to be done if the potential benefits of available evidence are to be realized for both individual patients and the health care system as a whole.