Where Is the Implementation Science? An Opportunity to Apply Principles During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Stephanie Parks Taylor; Marc A Kowalkowski; Rinad S Beidas

doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa622

Where Is the Implementation Science? An Opportunity to Apply Principles During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Dec 31;71(11):2993-2995. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa622.

Authors

Stephanie Parks Taylor¹, Marc A Kowalkowski², Rinad S Beidas^{3

4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
² Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁴ Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁶ Penn Implementation Science Center at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic represents a global crisis that has received extraordinary response from healthcare workers and scientists. One critical but potentially overlooked field in a pandemic is implementation science-the study of methods to reduce the research-to-practice gap. In this Viewpoint, we discuss the important role of implementation science during this and future pandemics and highlight considerations to maximize the utility of implementation research.

Keywords: COVID-19; implementation science; pandemic.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Health Personnel
Humans
Implementation Science
Pandemics* / prevention & control
SARS-CoV-2