Translational research: a concept analysis.

Background/conceptual framework: Little is known about which approaches facilitate adoption and sustainment of evidence-based practice change in the highly complex care environments that constitute clinical practice today. The purpose of this article was to complete a concept analysis of translational research using a modi- fied Walker and Avant approach. Design/data collection: Using a rigorous and thorough review of the recent health care literature generated by a deep electronic search from 2004-2011, 85 appropriate documents were retrieved. Close reading of the articles by three coresearchers yielded an analysis of the emerging concept of translational research. Data analysis: Using the iterative process described by Walker and Avant, a tentative definition of the concept of translational research, along with antecedents and consequences were identified. Implications for health care professionals in education, practice, and research are offered. Further research is needed to determine the adequacy of the definition, to identify empirical refer- ents, and to guide theory development. Results: The study resulted in a theoreti- cal definition of the concept of translational research, along with identification of antecedents and consequences and a description of an ideal or model case to illustrate the definition. Implications/conclusions: Implications for practice and education include the importance of focusing on translational research approaches that may reduce the research-practice gap in health care, thereby improving patient care delivery. Research is needed to determine the usefulness of the definition in health care clinical practice.Keywords: translational research; knowledge development; concept analysis; conceptual analysis; interdisciplinaryRapid evolution of change within health care is giving rise to new concepts and ideas for improving health care delivery. Within this context is an explosion of research and subsequent knowledge development between and among disciplines. However, knowledge is disseminated slowly to the bedside, perhaps involving only individual practitioners (Titler, 2008), thereby underusing interventions (Leeman & Sandelowski, 2012) and delaying implementation into practice. This delay, called the research-practice gap (Vincent johnson, Velasquez, & Rigney, 2010), may be as long as 23 years (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholdt, 2011); it has important quality and safety implications in health care (Ironside, Jeffries, & Martin, 2009). Health care leaders have called for development of processes that close this gap, but successful implementation of research findings into practice remains elusive.A concept has begun to emerge that may serve to close the gap between research and infusion into practice. Translational research, a multidisciplinary concept, has begun to appear in the health care lexicon with increasing frequency. Nevertheless, when examined closely, its meaning remains unclear.When this lack of clarity hinders communication, concept analysis can be an important first step in understanding the breadth and range of a concept. The purpose of this article is to present a concept analysis (Walker & Avant, 2005) of translational research, to determine the defining attributes, and identify antecedents and consequences in order to facilitate understanding.BACKGROUNDWhat Is Concept Analysis?Concept analysis is a rigorous and structured process that provides a theoreti- cal definition of a thing: a phenomenon of interest, a phrase, or an idea. The process is engaged when phrases being used are not well-defined or are easily misunderstood. Concept analysis is a formal linguistic exercise derived from a thorough review of the literature, in which scholars/practitioners seek out the defining attributes of the phenomenon of interest. This is extremely important because without a theoretical definition, there can be no operational definition, and measuring the phenomenon is impossible. …