In academia, traditionally, researchers report their clinical study results in scientific journals. The results of pragmatic clinical research are often used to inform clinical and health care system decision makers, frame clinical guidelines, inform policy, and, ultimately, may be implemented into routine care or clinical operations. A paradigm shift has begun toward using different dissemination strategies to improve upon the fact that it takes 17 years for a small fraction (~14%) of original research to benefit patient care (Balas and Boren 2000), while the majority of research findings never influence care improvement.  The typical pathway to publication may not be an adequate means of dissemination of information to inform decision makers.

The mode and medium for disseminating the findings for a PCT should be tailored to the specific audience. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) recommends that patients and other stakeholders be involved in plans to disseminate study findings by, for example, identifying various audiences for dissemination, shaping the study design with final products in mind, and developing creative approaches to get information into the hands of those who need it.

Having stakeholders at the table from the start can be key to driving practice change if it is indicated from the results or to redesign/adjust if results are not as expected.  There are a wide range of stakeholder groups relevant to PCTs, and these are described in detail in the Engaging Stakeholders chapter. This chapter explores dissemination strategies for different stakeholders, beginning with considerations for transparent reporting to the scientific community and then moving to approaches for disseminating to patients and health systems leaders.