Implementation strategies

Abstract

There is increasing information on the effectiveness of different interventions intended to reduce the gap between clinical practice and what is indicated by evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of clinical interventions. Interventions include behavioural and financial/organizational. Unfortunately, none of the interventions have a substantial impact upon clinical practice. Many interventions that are evaluated are poorly developed, and there are several common methodological weaknesses in many of the evaluations conducted. The paper concludes with a comment on the nature of the market place for health technologies, and suggests that 'implementation interventions' may not be the solution to the problems of the poor uptake of medical research.