Using theory and evidence to guide the use of educational outreach to improve patient care.

Educational outreach is a common quality improvement (QI) strategy used alone and in combination with other interventions. However, a meta-analysis of educational outreach has failed to identify reasons for variation in its impact. To better understand such variation in findings, a more comprehensive set of characteristics about educational outreach is needed. This article describes the contribution that diffusion of innovations theory and evidence-based continuing education practices can make toward standardizing a set of characteristics to guide QI and research efforts using educational outreach. The article offers a set of characteristics and describes the implications of the set for research and QI efforts.