Roadmap for a participatory research-practice partnership to implement evidence.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Implementation Science
• Knowledge Translation
• Clinical Practice Improvement

Background:

• Implementing evidence-based practice guidelines across diverse healthcare settings (hospital, community, long-term care) is complex.
• Challenges exist for both health systems and individual practitioners in translating evidence into point-of-care practice.
• Populations include those with chronic wounds, heart failure, stroke, diabetes, and in palliative, cancer, and maternity care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a practical roadmap, the Queen's University Research Roadmap for Knowledge Implementation (QuRKI), for facilitating evidence integration.
• To demonstrate how generating "local evidence" aids in aligning stakeholders, identifying barriers/facilitators, and supporting planning.
• To illustrate the interplay between research and implementation activities at the point of care.

Main Methods:

• Development of the QuRKI roadmap with three phases: issue identification, solution building, and implementation/evaluation.
• Utilizing practical experience of researchers working at the point of care.
• Employing an exemplar case to showcase the research-implementation dynamic.

Main Results:

• The QuRKI roadmap provides a structured framework for knowledge implementation.
• Generating local evidence is a key aspect of successful implementation, fostering shared understanding and empirical support.
• Research activities are integral to facilitating evidence-informed practice change.

Conclusions:

• QuRKI guides researchers in forming strategic alliances with practice communities for evidence-informed care reorganization.
• A collaborative approach, where researchers actively use evidence, is crucial for successful implementation.
• Further evaluation of QuRKI's utility in diverse clinical fields is encouraged.