Knowledge creation through total clinical outcomes management: A practice-based evidence solution to address some of the challenges of knowledge translation

Introduction: The challenges of knowledge translation in behavioural health care are unique to this field for a variety of reasons including the fact that effective treatment is invariably embedded in a strong relationship between practitioners and the people they serve. Methods: Practitioners' knowledge gained from experience and intuition become an even more important consideration in the knowledge translation process since clinicians are, in fact, a component of most treatments. Communication of findings from science must be conceptualized with sensitivity to this reality. Results: Considering knowledge translation as a communication process suggests the application of contemporary theories of communication which emphasize the creation of shared meaning over the transmission of knowledge from one person to the next. Conclusion: In this context outcomes management approaches to create a learning environment within clinical practices that facilitate the goals of knowledge transfer while respecting that the scientific enterprise is neither the sole nor primary repository of knowledge.