Clinical impact refers to the real-world effect that a medical intervention, technology, diagnostic tool, or research finding has on patient outcomes, clinical decision-making, and healthcare practices. It goes beyond statistical significance to evaluate how something actually improves (or harms) aspects such as:

Patient survival

Quality of life

Symptom relief

Time to diagnosis

Treatment effectiveness

Reduction in complications or hospitalizations

Changes in clinician behavior or care protocols

For example, a new imaging technique might have a clinical impact if it leads to earlier tumor detection, resulting in better prognosis—even if its technical precision alone seems only marginally better than existing methods.