Implementation Science in Healthcare

Abstract Implementation science in healthcare comprises over 30 years of rich and varied activity that has developed, refined, and applied implementation science concepts, theories, and research approaches. This body of activity has produced valuable empirical findings and has contributed to the continued development of the broader field of implementation science. This chapter describes key stages in the development and evolution of implementation science in healthcare. It discusses key settings, evidence-based practices, and implementation strategies studied by healthcare implementation researchers and examines key challenges and future directions in the field. Continued growth in healthcare implementation science will require expanded attention to sustainment, scale-up, and spread of effective healthcare practices and attention to the study of routine, naturally occurring implementation processes in addition to experimental evaluation of investigator-led implementation.