CLOSING PLENARY: Improving Quality of Care: The Levers for Knowledge Translation and Utillization

Description/Overview: Over the last 20 years a progression of different models and approaches to research dissemination and uptake have been promoted. These have included concepts of practice development, evidence based medicine, knowledge transfer, diffusion of innovation and improvement and implementation science. these have variously addressed the challenges for clinicians seeking to improve quality of care and to speed the uptake of innovation and new practices based on research evidence. However, the challenges of achieving this remain illusive and arguably increase as health care becomes ever more complex. Approaches to the problem of getting research into practice across the so called 'translational gaps' have moved from conceptualising this as a problem of knowledge transfer to the need for systemic approaches to change that fully acknowledge both the barriers to uptake of knowledge and new health care practices in complex systems and the kinds of processes and support that may be required to achieve it. Examples of efforts to improve quality of care in the context of cancer services will be presented to illustrate these challenges and successful strategies will be proposed.