Dissemination and implementation sciences in pharmacy: A call to action for professional organizations

Abstract

There is a substantial gap between the generation of new knowledge and its widespread incorporation into routine clinical practice, including the medication use process. Principles of dissemination and implementation sciences, if fully embraced by clinicians and researchers, have the potential of improving healthcare effectiveness, efficiency, quality, and safety. This commentary is a call to action for member-driven professional organizations in pharmacy to serve their members and the profession by proactively and strategically leading efforts to develop pharmacist's abilities to incorporate principles of dissemination and implementation sciences into their practice. Additionally, these organizations should provide meaningful support for dissemination and implementation research that hastens the adoption, promotes intervention fidelity, and demonstrates the scaling and sustaining of evidence-based practices to optimize patient care delivery and medication therapy outcomes.

Keywords: Dissemination science; Evidence-based practice; Implementation science; Medication; Pharmacy.