Operational research as implementation science: definitions, challenges and research priorities
Operational research (OR) is the discipline of using models, either quantitative or qualitative, to aid decision-making in complex implementation problems. The methods of OR have been used in healthcare since the 1950s in diverse areas such as emergency medicine and the interface between acute and community care; hospital performance; scheduling and management of patient home visits; scheduling of patient appointments; and many other complex implementation problems of an operational or logistical nature.
Monks T., Operational research as implementation science: definitions, challenges and research priorities. Implementation Science. 2016;11(1):81.