In an interview at the NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory Steering Committee’s annual meeting in April, Dr. Steven George discussed how to successfully implement an intervention in a pragmatic clinical trial and how intervention complexity affects implementation across various sites with different local contexts.

“Variation is everywhere, and you have to be willing to ride that wave. It is kind of like being out there waiting to catch a wave into shore, you’re not going to be able to pick how rough that surf is on any given day.”

Successfully implementing and delivering an intervention across multiple organizations is dependent on many factors, including the complexity of the intervention, the stability of the control, and barriers to and promoters of uptake.

Dr. George’s advice is to  “Be willing to listen to patients, sites, and providers to help make what you envision for your trial work in a local environment. That flexibility is way to show respect with someone that you are collaborating with. They know their local environment, and if we’re going to ask them as pragmatic trialists to help deliver the intervention, we need to flexible.”

Read Dr. George’s presentation on the implementing and delivering interventions across healthcare systems from the April Steering Committee Meeting.