Read the perspectives of principal investigators from INQRI-funded implementation sites: strategies, challenges, successes, and lessons learned.

Large gaps exist between what research evidence recommends to improve patient outcomes and what is actually applied on a widespread basis in patient care.

These researchers interviewed five principal investigators funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) to understand their perceptions of implementation strategies to improve operational decision-making—and health care quality.

They identify major themes of the implementation strategies:

• Use education (training, workshops, rounds) to reach clinicians, opinion leaders, change champions, and organizational leaders.
• Build relationships through ongoing, regular interaction with study sites using list serves, webinars, teleconferences, and site visits.
• Provide implementation tools such as quick reference guides, toolkits, and check lists.
• Engage staff to become champions of the program. Consider developing a study logo for use on workbooks, signs, badges, mugs, etc., to increase visibility of the project on study units.

Challenges, successes, and lessons learned:

• Institutional review board approval processes are long and frustrating; time frames for implementing the intervention too short.
• An intervention can generate enthusiasm and increase understanding of a study topic.
• The implementation process can be very complex. Communications is important.

The authors describe two additional exemplars to illustrate how findings from interventions and descriptive research are disseminated.