Improving the quality of primary care by optimizing implementation research reporting

The potential of implementation research in understanding strategies for changing practice is undermined by poor reporting, leaving readers unable to replicate such strategies and unclear whether they apply in the context of their practice. These challenges are particularly pertinent in the complex, diverse world of primary care. The recently published Standards for Reporting Implementation Studies (StaRI) provides a framework for comprehensive reporting of implementation research. A key concept is the consideration and reporting in “dual strands”: on the one hand, the implementation strategy and on the other, the evidence-based intervention. Other requirements are full descriptions of context, strategies and interventions (and how the strategies were adopted or adapted), and evaluation methods, which will require flexible interpretation of journal limit constraints or innovative approaches to supplementary information. The choice is between accepting the unsatisfactory status quo or adopting strategies to improve reporting with a view to optimizing the potential of implementation research to advance primary care.