Call for Papers – The Inaugural Special Issue for Implementation and Quality Improvement Sciences

As evidence-based medicine gained momentum in the ‘90s, it generated a push toward applying the same standards of empiricism to the conduct and publication of rigorous quality improvement and implementation studies. The aim was to ensure that evidence-based medicine was met with evidence-based management (Shortell et al. 2007). Over time, the investigative community, including researchers, improvers, and those interested in using their results, realized that new approaches were needed. The interrelated scholarly communities of implementation science (IS) and quality improvement (QI) evolved to address the challenge of using the systematic rigor of science to help close quality gaps. Hallmarks of this work include attention to how tenets of IS and QI inform our understanding of how the change process occurs; sensitivity to context; the interplay of implementation participants with the evidence-anchored innovations being implemented; and how generalizable knowledge is adapted to specific clinical contexts to improve a specific outcome (Batalden & Davidoff 2007; Fisher et al 2014). This JGIM Special Issue is looking for research that advances the progress of improvement within actual care delivery settings, while taking account of applicable knowledge from these synergistic fields.

In summary, this special issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM) will focus on generating knowledge or evidence needed by healthcare delivery systems that apply scientific methods in routine care settings with an eye towards improving patient and population outcomes. JGIM is seeking innovative papers that advance QI/IS knowledge by applying evidence across diverse delivery systems or settings. Types of articles can include those that:

• Test QI/IS strategies or interventions that are being spread beyond a single setting;
• Assess the effectiveness, quality or utility of QI/IS methods including toolkits, training, and especially strategies that extend the impact of these methods;
• Advance the utility of systematic review to inform optimal QI/IS methods and strategies;
• Assess the validity or reliability of new relevant methods in QI/IS, including mechanisms and contextual factors and their impacts on patient quality and outcomes;
• Provide high level synthesis, perspectives or wisdom on major, innovative improvement efforts.

This special issue will include approximately 10-12 articles including two invited commentaries together with original research studies, concise research reports, review articles, or perspectives that advance the field in thinking about the nexus between QI and IS. Research articles should consider the Standards for Reporting Implementation Studies (StaRI, http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guideelines/stari-statement/) Statement and Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting (SQUIRE) available at (http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/squire) as guides. The deadline for submission of papers is September 3.

Please contact the Ms. Brooke Williams in the Guest Editor Office with any questions at 503-335-6676 or Brooke.Williams@kpchr.org.