Patient safety, quality of care, and knowledge translation in the intensive care unit.

A large gap exists between the completion of clinical research demonstrating the benefit of new treatment interventions and improved patient outcomes resulting from implementation of these interventions as part of routine clinical practice. This gap clearly affects patient safety and quality of care. Knowledge translation is important for addressing this gap, but evaluation of the most appropriate and effective knowledge translation methods is still ongoing. Through describing one model for knowledge translation and an example of its implementation, insights can be gained into systematic methods for advancing the implementation of evidence-based interventions to improve safety, quality, and patient outcomes.