The Embedded Health Management Academic: A Boundary Spanning Role for Enabling Knowledge Translation Comment on "CIHR Health System Impact Fellows: Reflections on ‘Driving Change’ Within the Health System"

Abstract

Healthcare organisations are looking at strategies and activities to improve patient outcomes, beyond clinical interventions. Increasingly, health organisations are investing significant resources in leadership, management and team work training to optimise professional collaboration, shared decision-making and, by extension, high quality services. Embedded clinical academics are a norm in, and considered a strength of, healthcare organisations and universities. Their role contributes, formally and informally, to clinical teaching, knowledge sharing and research. An equivalent, but significantly less common role, addressing the management of healthcare organisations, is the embedded health management academic (EHMA). A stimulus encouraging this intertwined embedded academic role, in both clinical and managerial fields, is the demand for the translation of knowledge between academic and industry contexts. In this essay, we describe the EHMA role, its value, impact and potential for enabling healthcare organisation improvement. Focusing on the business of healthcare, the EHMA is a conduit between sectors, stakeholders and activities, enabling different organisations and experts to co-create, share and embed knowledge. The value and impact achieved is significant and ongoing, through the nurturing of an evidence-based management culture that promotes ongoing continuous improvement and research activities.

Destination Impact! The Many Roads to Influencing Health System Change: A Response to Recent Commentaries

“…Authors' affiliations 1 Health Program, Faculty of Arts and Science, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, Canada. 2 Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, NS, Canada. 3 Healthy Populations Institute, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.…”

“…We are pleased that the article received perspectives from an international audience. Commentators compared the HSI Fellowship to similar programs in Australia 2 and the United Kingdom 3 ; others highlighted the historical challenges of these programs to make an impact 4 , 5 ; another positioned integrated knowledge translation (iKT) at the centre of the fellowship experience. 6 In response to these articles, we wish to: (1) address interpretations that were made regarding the role of the fellow; (2) emphasize two overlooked objectives of the fellowship (learning about and addressing health system challenges and professional development), thereby establishing that the fellowship and its impact is not ‘all about’ any one component; and (3) reflect on the commentators’ perspectives regarding tensions that exist between academic success and research impact.…”

“…Our commentary was fortunate to receive responses from several international researchers who compared the HSI Fellowship with their country’s embedded researcher training initiatives. Australia’s Embedded Health Management Academic 2 and the UK’s National Institute for Health Research Knowledge Mobilisation Research Fellowship scheme 3 are two pioneering approaches. While there are differences, a similar challenge among all programs is how to sustain and measure impact.…”

Improving knowledge translation for increased engagement and impact in healthcare

“…13 Coproduction, and the subsequent diffusion of knowledge, needs to be undertaken collaboratively by academics and practitioners. 14 Developing the capacity and skills of all stakeholders is driving improvements in the conduct and communication of health research, 15 as witnessed by the emergence of new academic roles, such as the embedded academic, 16 and university-health organisation collaborations in Australia and Canada. 17 Similarly, providing access to study findings and tailoring communication methods for multiple audiences or stakeholders assists with knowledge uptake.…”