Evidence-Informed Decision Making in Public Health

Implement: Decide whether (and plan how) to implement the adapted evidence into practice or policy

Implementation, also known as application, involves acting on the evidence to bring about a change in practice. Deciding whether and planning how to implement the adapted evidence in the local context involves developing an implementation plan. This step of the Evidence-Informed Decision Making in Public Health process helps you answer the question:

“How will I use the research evidence in my practice?”

The implementation plan uses the adapted research evidence to create a tangible plan of action to create a change in practice, policy, or to deliver a new program. This step focuses on figuring out how to use the adapted evidence in your local setting.

Creating an implementation plan consists of these three critical steps:

  1. Conducting a situational assessment
  2. Planning a program
  3. Disseminating the intervention

For more information about how to implement an intervention, please review the Implement section of the Introduction to Evidence-informed Decision Making.

EIPH Wheel - ImplementEvaluate Define Search Appraise Synthesize Adapt

Decide whether (and plan how) to implement the adapted evidence into practice or policy.

We recommend these resources from the Registry of Methods and Tools to help with this step:

Implementing best practice guidelines: The RNAO ToolkitKnowledge translation planning tool