Putting the Dissemination and Implementation in Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Dissemination and implementation science seeks generalizable knowledge about closing the gap between clinical discovery and actual use in routine practice and public health. The field of infectious diseases enjoys an abundance of highly efficacious interventions (eg, antimicrobial agents, human immunodeficiency virus treatment) which are not adequately used in routine care, thereby missing critical opportunities to improve population health. In this article, we summarize salient features of dissemination and implementation science, reviewing definitions and methodologies for infectious diseases clinicians and researchers. We give examples of the limited use of dissemination and implementation science in infectious diseases thus far, suggest opportunities for application, and provide resources for interested readers to use and apply to their own research and practice.

Keywords: dissemination and implementation; implementation science; knowledge exchange; knowledge transfer.