EIS · Development of a European Implementation Score for measuring implementation of research into healthcare practice using vascular disease as an example

This collaborative project will develop a European methodology to assess the implementation of research evidence into practice (the European Implementation Score (EIS)), in primary, secondary and specialist care from the perspectives of different target groups (users and carers, voluntary organisations, range of health and social care professionals and health policy makers). The EIS will measure how well new knowledge is implemented into clinical practice in Europe. The EIS will address implementation of research knowledge at different levels of the health care system (micro-, meso- and macro-level) and in different health care settings (e.g. primary care, hospital, specialised care). The focus of the project will be in stroke because of the emerging new evidence of effective new treatments available and because of the national initiatives and governmental policies in this area. We will test the transferability of the develop methods using coronary heart disease as another vascular disease example. General recommendations for measuring effective implementation of research results will be developed from the perspectives of users, health care professionals and health policy, hence widening the theoretical framework for effective implementation from a focus on patients and professionals alone. The different components of the EIS will be refined according to their ability to predict successful implementation of evidence based stroke care in different settings in Europe. The identification of factors determining effective implementation will be data driven, analysing available data from national audits and population-based registers. The EIS will benchmark the current status of implementation of research results in different health care settings at different levels of the health care system and will inform health policy of a possible set of processes required for closing the research/practice gap.