KNOWLEDGE TRANSLATION IN HEALTHCARE - TIME TO BRIDGE KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION GAP

Abstract

'O believers! Why do you say, what you do not do? Most hateful is it to Allah that you say, what you do not do. As Saff, 61/ 2-3

This is the era of evidence based medicine. We advocate quality care based on evidence based medicine. It is taught to our undergraduate and postgraduate students. Doctors and other healthcare workers are expected to practice according to guidelines and recommendations based on available evidence. Similarly, the policy makers are also expected to make health policies in light of best evidence. But unfortunately this is not always the case. There are many times when we have the knowledge about protocols, standard operating procedures or guidelines but we tend to ignore them. This is not a problem limited to Pakistan or other low to middle income countries. It is a global issue. It is estimated that 55% of patients in the US do not get ideal health care according to accepted standards. Several practice audits have also shown that sound research evidence is not being put to practice

1. These gaps between knowledge and our actions are called “knowledge – action gaps” and the process of bridging this gap is knowledge translation (KT). It is known by many other terms like implementation science, evidence informed decision making, integrated knowledge transfer, diffusion of innovation, research utilization and so forth.

2. The term knowledge translation can be defined as “exchange, synthesis and ethically sound application of knowledge”.

3. Literature review suggests that patient outcomes are better when healthcare providers successfully bridge the knowledge-action gap.