In this paper, I examine the emerging field of implementation research as a
multidisciplinary field of study (1) and an urgent call to action to facilitate the
adoption of evidence into practice and to develop responsive healthcare systems
that address healthcare quality and equity (2-4) particularly to accelerate progress
in maternal and child survival (5). Over the past eighteen months, Possible, a
nonprofit that runs a rural hospital in a partnership with the government of Nepal,
has been developing an implementation research program embedded within
expanding direct healthcare delivery capacity. This is distinct from, say, using the
hospital or community as a partner site for efficacy-oriented studies or from
creating an implementation research program within an already well-formed
organizational or healthcare delivery framework (2). Possible made this decision as
part of a core strategy to build a learning, adaptive healthcare system in rural Nepal
(6). This experience highlights some of the challenges of defining, creating strategy
for, and executing on implementation research in resource-limited settings.