“Knowing Is Not Enough; We Must Apply. Willing Is Not Enough; We Must Do”

Timely use of research knowledge to improve clinical practice and health policy decisions has attracted international interest. The need to “do something” is particularly urgent, as it takes on average 17 years for research evidence to reach clinical practice.^1–5 The lengthy lag time to translate research into practice not only results in potential harm to patients, it also has important economic consequences.⁶ For example, a study of economic benefits of cardiovascular disease research in the United Kingdom between 1975 and 2005 found that a £1.00 investment in public research funding produced an earning of £0.39 per year indefinitely.^6,7 About 9% of this earning was attributable to individuals' health improvement based on a 17-year lag for research to reach practice. Interestingly, the rate of return rose to 13% when the lag time was 7 years shorter. The case for investing in research that addresses the “knowledge-to-action” (KTA) gap is compelling.

Over the past 2 decades, the field of knowledge translation (KT) has emerged to address this severe gap. Knowledge translation is essential to all fields of research and takes place within a complex system of interactions between researchers and knowledge users, from the start of a research project to the implementation of new knowledge.^8–11 Grimshaw and colleagues¹² suggested that the basic unit of KT is up-to-date and high-quality systematic reviews. The synthesized literature can then be used to develop knowledge products—such as clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), best practice recommendations, quality indicators, or policy briefs—for different audiences.