Nowadays, there are many problems in nursing and medical science but those affecting the effectiveness of treatment modes and preventing practical implementation of the theory are the most important. Many researchers in the field of medical science are worried about the gap that exists between theoretical insights on serious health issues and the treatment methods, and its clinical implementation. It is necessary to say that the intensity of this gap tends to be different in connection to various areas of medicine; many individual factors are deteriorating the situation in different fields (Embi & Payne, 2013). Nevertheless, there also are a few possible solutions aimed at bridging the gap; one of them involves a special training program that allows the specialists to fulfill two major functions at once.
All the people belonging to the academic community are interested in addressing the issue as fast as possible. However, it is necessary to know why this gap occurs and what are the factors increasing its intensity in particular areas. To begin with, medical science has developed with the rise of information technologies; on the one hand, it has become easier to process the results of medical experiments and get access to essential materials immediately. At the same time, when more people have an opportunity to contribute to the development of medical science, it becomes harder to consider the findings of all the researchers (Sharon 2015). To continue, new decisions involve new difficulties and rapid practical implementation is seen as an inconsiderate act. What is more, some of the new articles propose better solutions than the others, and additional time should be taken to assess the soundness of the data and make a choice. Due to that, the implementation of theory into practice sometimes takes quite a long time.
As for the ways to estrange or minimize the gap, it is necessary to consider the difference between numerous areas of science. As the primary goal of medical science is increasing the patients’ quality of living, a lot of approaches to decrease the gap between research and practice are focused on the importance of the specialist. To be more precise, many researchers claim that the best way to address the issue is increasing the competence of health specialists. For instance, DeLuca, Ovseiko, and Buchan (2016) suppose that decreasing the gap is impossible without creating a joint program for medical students. According to its idea, the extended knowledge will allow them to perform different kinds of work such as conducting the research and assisting patients. According to the researchers, increasing the number of such specialists is an essential step that will allow implementing new solutions into practice once their effectiveness is proved.
Even though such an approach seems to be reasonable and effective, certain barriers make it difficult to turn evidence into a positive outcome for the patient. Speaking about the barriers, it is necessary to consider that people who make the decisions connected to the modern healthcare system would like to avoid additional risks. It often happens that a new method that is supposed to be effective is not implemented to substitute the older one. There are a lot of organizational issues within the healthcare system, and implementing new knowledge is never easy as it is always connected to new limitations and risks. Unfortunately, such a situation can significantly decrease some patients’ prospects of recovery.
In the end, the discussed issue is urgent for the field as it prevents many patients from getting benefits using the latest medical advances.
References
DeLuca, G. C., Ovseiko, P. V., & Buchan, A. M. (2016). Personalized medical education: Reappraising clinician-scientist training. Science translational medicine, 8(321), 1-3.
Embi, P. J., & Payne, P. R. (2013). Evidence generating medicine: Redefining the research-practice relationship to complete the evidence cycle. Medical care, 51(1), 87-91.
Sharon, T. (2015). Closing the time lag between evidence and clinical practice. Linkedin. Web.