Abstract
BackgroundPartnerships between academic researchers and health system leadership are often promoted by health research funding agencies as an important strategy in helping ensure that funded research is relevant and the results used. While potential benefits of such partnerships have been identified, there is limited guidance in the scientific literature for either healthcare organisations or researchers on how to select, build and manage effective research partnerships. Our main research objective was to explore the health system perspective on partnerships with researchers with a focus on issues related to the design and organisation of the health system and services. Two structured web reviews were conducted as one component of this larger study.MethodsTwo separate structured web reviews were conducted using structured data extraction tools. The first review focused on sites of health research bodies and those providing information on health system management and knowledge translation (n = 38) to identify what guidance to support partnerships might be available on websites commonly accessed by health leaders and researchers. The second reviewed sites from all health ‘regions’ in Canada (n = 64) to determine what criteria and standards were currently used in guiding decisions to engage in research partnerships; phone follow-up ensured all relevant information was collected.ResultsAbsence of guidance on partnerships between research institutions and health system leaders was found. In the first review, absence of guidance on research partnerships and knowledge coproduction was striking and in contrast with coverage of other forms of collaboration such as patient/community engagement. In the second review, little evidence of criteria and standards regarding research partnerships was found. Difficulties in finding appropriate contact information for those responsible for research and obtaining a response were commonly experienced.ConclusionGuidance related to health system partnerships with academic researchers is lacking on websites that should promote and support such collaborations. Health region websites provide little evidence of partnership criteria and often do not make contact information to research leaders within health systems readily available; this may hinder partnership development between health systems and academia.
Highlights
The need for collaborative research approaches to address the many and complex problems currently facing the Canadian healthcare system is increasingly recognised [1, 2]
Awareness of actual and potential benefits of such research partnerships has led to requirements by many major health research funders for greater participation by health system leaders in health research [10,11,12,13]
This review focused on (1) evidence of research partnerships by health regions; (2) messages targeted to potential research collaborators; (3) extent to which regional review processes demonstrate requirements for partnership, offer guidance or address partnership issues; and (4) accessibility of information relevant to research partnerships for academic researchers
Summary
In addition to partnerships between researchers from diverse disciplines, intersectoral research teams, which include both researchers and various knowledge users, offer many benefits for improved health service delivery [3,4,5]. Research partnerships may improve the quality of solutions [5] and enhance responsiveness of health services to community needs [7]. Awareness of actual and potential benefits of such research partnerships has led to requirements by many major health research funders for greater participation by health system leaders in health research [10,11,12,13]. While potential benefits of such partnerships have been identified, there is limited guidance in the scientific literature for either healthcare organisations or researchers on how to select, build and manage effective research partnerships. Two structured web reviews were conducted as one component of this larger study
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