Table 1.

Glossary of implementation science

Term	Definition	Example
Intervention, implementation, and dissemination
Intervention	The evidence-based, or consensus-based, clinical practice, policy, or program that a particular patient population will benefit from but is currently under-utilized(13)	The timely use of antibiotics for septic shock
Implementation	The integration of an intervention into a specific setting or context(13)	Sepsis huddle to ensure no barriers to timely administration (such as IV access or stat ordering)
Dissemination	The distribution of an intervention to a specific audience (13)	Creation of a toolkit to facilitate widespread adoption of sepsis huddles for timely antibiotics in pediatric critical care centers
Theory, model, and framework
Theory	A set of analytical principles or statements designed to structure our observation, understanding, and explanation of the world.	Theory of diffusion (14) Organizational theory(22)
Model	A deliberate simplification of a phenomenon or a specific aspect of a phenomenon. Models can be described as theories with a more narrowly defined scope of explanation; a model is descriptive, whereas a theory is explanatory as well as descriptive.	The Knowledge-to-Action model(15), the Ottawa model(16), the ACE Star Model of Knowledge Transformation(17)
Framework	A structure, overview, outline, system or plan consisting of various descriptive categories, (e.g., constructs or variables) and the relations between them that are presumed to account for a phenomenon. Frameworks do not provide explanations; they only describe empirical phenomena by fitting them into a set of categories.	Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR)(18); Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF)(19); Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health services (PARIHS)(20); Proctor outcomes framework(21)