When Health Systems Consider Research to Be Beyond the Scope of Healthcare Delivery, Research Translation Is Crippled; Comment on “Academic Health Science Centres as Vehicles for Knowledge Mobilisation in Australia? A Qualitative Study”

Document Type : Commentary

Authors

School of Medicine and Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

Abstract

Edelman and colleagues’ analysis of the views of Board members of Australian Research Translation Centres (RTCs) is well timed. There has been little study of Australian RTCs to date. We focus on their recommendations regarding knowledge mobilisation (KM) to open broader debate on the wisdom of regarding UK practices as a blueprint. We go further and ask whether successful RTCs might, as a result of responding to local context, create idiosyncratic structures and solutions, making generalisable learning less likely? There has been much invested in Australian RTCs and implications of government’s formative evaluation of their work is discussed. Five recommendations are made that could help RTCs: allowing system end-users a greater say in funding decisions, taking a broader, more democratic approach to kinds of knowledge that are valued; investing in methodologies derived from the innovation space; and, a creative attention to governance to support these ideas.

Keywords

References

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International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 11, Issue 6
June 2022
Pages 855-858

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History

  • Receive Date: 16 June 2021
  • Revise Date: 26 July 2021
  • Accept Date: 10 August 2021
  • First Publish Date: 25 August 2021

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