Knowledge Translation Research: The Science of Moving Research Into Policy and Practice

Abstract

Research findings will not change health outcomes unless health care organizations, systems, and professionals adopt them in practice. Knowledge translation research is the scientific study of the methods to promote the uptake of research findings by patients, health care providers, managers, and policy makers. Many forms of enquiry addressing different questions are needed to develop the evidence base for knowledge translation. In this paper we will present a description of the broad scope of knowledge translation research with a reflection on activities needed to further develop the science of knowledge translation. Consideration of some of the shared research challenges facing the fields of knowledge translation and continuing professional development will also be presented.

Malaysia's National Higher Education Research Institute (IPPTN): narrowing the research-policy gap in a dynamic higher education system

“…the hierarchical model of the public service and political governance), coupled with weak technical capacity on the part of decision-makers to systematically analyze research evidence, underscores the difficulty of getting higher education policy-making in Malaysia to be informed by evidence. The findings of this study parallel those from the existing literature in several areas including studies on research feasibility and impact (Fischer 1998;Brownson et al 2006), the dissemination of knowledge (Landry, Amara and Rherrad 2006;Curran et al 2011), as well as policy issue-framing and agenda setting (Anderson et al 2005;Strydom et al 2010).…”

Baccalaureate nursing students’ confidence on patient safety

“…In the United Kingdom, Japan, and United States, researchers have found little to no patient safety integration within nursing curricula and found little to no patient safety integration within the educational materials. [14][15][16][17][18][19] This does not necessarily mean that the content is absent from these programs but rather that there is very minimal documentation of its existence. There is no published evidence on the state of integration of patient safety topics within Canadian nursing curricula.…”

A Qualitative Study on Evidence Based Practice for Filipino Physiotherapists

“…EBP is important and valuable in improving the quality of health care and setting standards in practice whether in developed or in developing countries. The ultimate aims of using evidence to guide practice are to improve health care and achieve best patient outcomes [1][2]. Whilst there are issues in developing countries regarding EBP, the availability and relevance of the current evidence, the realism of EBP to developing country scenarios and settings, and the limited time, access and resources, there are ways to address such issues to move forward to adopt a culture of EBP.…”

“…Recently, the main focus of EBP has been on the uptake and implementation of practice guidelines and evaluation of the processes and outcomes known as Knowledge Translation (KT) research [1]. Health policies are now being informed by evidence from research studies such as randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and clinical guidelines [2].…”