Abstract
BackgroundOntario’s large community hospitals (LCHs) provide care to 65% of the province’s hospitalized patients, yet we know very little about their research activities. By searching for research publications from 2013 to 2015, we will describe the extent, type and collaborative nature of Ontario’s LCHs’ research activities.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review by searching PubMed, Embase and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases from January 1, 2013 until December 31, 2015 for all publication types whose author(s) was affiliated with any of the 44 LCHs. Articles were screened and abstracted by three reviewers, independently. The data were charted and results described using summary statistics, scatter plots, and bar charts.ResultsWe included 798 publications from 39 LCHs and 454 authors. The median number of publications was 7 (Interquartile range (IQR) 23). Observational study design was most commonly reported in over 50% of publications. Program evaluation was the focus in 40% of publications. Primary LCH authorship was observed for 535 publications. Over 25% and 65% of the publications were attributable to 24 authors and 9 LCHs, respectively. There was minimal collaboration both within (21.2%) and between (7.8%) LCHs. LCH size and geographic proximity to academic hospitals had minimal impact on research activity.ConclusionsOntario’s LCHs publish infrequently, collaborate infrequently, and their role in translational research activity is not well defined. A future survey questionnaire to LCH researchers identified through this review is planned to both validate and elicit their interpretations of our study findings and opinions about LCH involvement in research.
Highlights
Ontario’s large community hospitals (LCHs) provide care to 65% of the province’s hospitalized patients, yet we know very little about their research activities
There are 44 large community hospital corporations (LCHs) that range in size from 100 to 1232 average beds in operation [2]
Most of these initiatives focus on funding groups that employ an integrated knowledge translation research model [7]
Summary
Ontario’s large community hospitals (LCHs) provide care to 65% of the province’s hospitalized patients, yet we know very little about their research activities. This research model has unintentionally contributed to either failure or delays in the implementation of evidence into practice, and knowledge translation research initiatives have been initiated by both funding agencies and academic hospitals in their attempt to ameliorate this problem [4,5,6]. Most of these initiatives focus on funding groups that employ an integrated knowledge translation (iKT) research model [7]
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