Using the consolidated framework for implementation research to understand clinicians' innovations

Abstract

Implementation research aims to understand how and why innovations are successfully implemented in particular healthcare settings. However, much of the research has focused on assessing the implementation of externally-developed, if not superimposed innovations in different settings. There has been little examination – empirical or theoretical – beyond this linear and/or topdown understanding of implementation research. This begs the question of how innovations created by clinicians at the coalface can be understood, ex post facto. This conceptual paper explores the value of the consolidated framework for implementation research (CFIR) and argues its capacity to retrospectively understand the effect of innovations created by clinicians, in situ