Implementation science is a systematic research approach that promotes the integration of research findings and evidence-based practices into routine clinical practice. It has been a crucial topic in scientific inquiry. As the notion of ‘implementation science’ has evolved and associated theoretical and practical methodologies have been refined, researchers in this field have devised implementation strategies to address the determinants of implementation (barriers and facilitators) for clinical interventions, evidence-based practices, or novel technologies in clinical practice. The development of implementation strategies aims to foster the adoption and dissemination of innovations. This article offers a comprehensive introduction to the definition of implementation strategies, the process of selecting appropriate implementation strategies, the associated documentation and reporting procedures, with the aim of providing valuable references for enhancing future implementation research efforts.
Objective To review main obstacles to health care professionals' adherence to clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) by employing the scoping review method and a determinants framework, and to explore the effect of implementation strategies in intervention researches on guideline adherence. Methods The articles published from January 1, 2011 to June 10, 2023 were retrieved from the PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Library, SinoMed, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP databases. The original literature on the CPGs implementation obstacles and strategies was included, and the primary and secondary screening of the literature were completed by four researchers according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The basic characteristics of the literature, the factors affecting the implementation of the CPGs, and the strategies used were extracted. The results were analyzed and summarized using qualitative and quantitative methods. Results A total of 61 articles were included in the scoping review. The factors affecting the implementation of CPGs could be divided into five categories: guidelines themselves, external factors, internal factors, individual factors, and implementation process. The most common implementation obstacles were insufficient knowledge or skills of professionals regarding guidelines (n=21, 34.4%), insufficient necessity of using guidelines according to doctors (n=17, 27.9%), and unreasonable factors within hospital (n=16, 26.2%). The factors that promoted the implementation of CPGs included guidelines based on high-quality evidence (n=5, 8.2%), good department or hospital culture (n=4, 6.6%), convenient accessibility of guideline knowledge and information (n=4, 6.6%), and doctors’ excellent professional ability (n=4, 6.6%). The overall effectiveness of the guideline implementation strategy was 50%. Clinical decision support system (CDSS) could improve the adherence of CPGs. Guideline education or training was one of the most commonly used methods, but the effect of improving guideline compliance was unstable. Conclusion The primary challenges in implementing guidelines include inadequate professional capacity and demand, suboptimal hospital infrastructure and limited resources. However, the obstacles are not absolute. It is recommended to use implementation strategies to improve the absorption and implementation of guidelines, among which CDSS is an effective measure for promoting guideline adherence.