Disseminating clinical trial results in critical care

Efficient translation of clinical evidence into clinical practice is among the greatest challenges to evidence-based medicine. The field of knowledge transfer seeks to understand the barriers to evidence uptake and develop new methods to effectively disseminate clinical trial results. Traditionally, barriers to evidence-based practice are categorized into those of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Efforts to improve translation of evidence into practice should uncover and address each of these barriers and be customized to the specific intervention. To help aid knowledge transfer, interventions in clinical trials should be as simple as possible and answer questions important to actual caregivers. Potentially innovative methods for improving knowledge transfer include expanding community research networks, clinical registries to monitor evidence uptake, and community-based participatory research. It is essential that investigators conducting clinical trials prioritize knowledge transfer to ensure that new therapies in critical care are actually reaching the critically ill. (Crit Care Med 2009; 37[Suppl.]:S147-S153)