Knowledge translation in health research: A novel approach to health sciences education

The salient role of knowledge translation process, by which knowledge is put into practice, is increasingly recognized by various research stakeholders. However, medical schools are slow in providing medical students and health professionals engaged in research with the sufficient opportunities to examine more closely the facilitators and barriers to utilization of research evidence in policymaking and implementation, or the effectiveness of their research communication strategies. Memorial University of Newfoundland now offers a knowledge translation course that equips students of community health and applied health research with the knowledge and skills necessary for conducting research, that responds more closely to the needs of their communities, and for improving the utilization of their research by a variety of research consumers. This case study illustrates how the positive research outcomes resulted from implementing the knowledge translation strategies learned in the course. Knowledge translation can be useful also in attracting more funding and support from research agencies, industry, government agencies and the public. These reasons offer a compelling rationale for the standard inclusion of knowledge translation courses in health sciences education

Emerging Areas of Science: Recommendations for Nursing Science Education from the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science Idea Festival

The Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science aims to “facilitate and recognize life-long nursing science career development” as an important part of its mission. In light of fast-paced advances in science and technology that are inspiring new questions and methods of investigation in the health sciences, the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science convened the Idea Festival for Nursing Science Education and appointed the Idea Festival Advisory Committee (IFAC) to stimulate dialogue about linking PhD education with a renewed vision for preparation of the next generation of nursing scientists. Building on the 2005 National Research Council report Advancing The Nation\u27s Health Needs and the 2010 American Association of Colleges of Nursing Position Statement on the Research-Focused Doctorate Pathways to Excellence, the IFAC specifically addressed the capacity of PhD programs to prepare nursing scientists to conduct cutting-edge research in the following key emerging and priority areas of health sciences research: omics and the microbiome; health behavior, behavior change, and biobehavioral science; patient-reported outcomes; big data, e-science, and informatics; quantitative sciences; translation science; and health economics. The purpose of this article is to (a) describe IFAC activities, (b) summarize 2014 discussions hosted as part of the Idea Festival, and (c) present IFAC recommendations for incorporating these emerging areas of science and technology into research-focused doctoral programs committed to preparing graduates for lifelong, competitive careers in nursing science. The recommendations address clearer articulation of program focus areas; inclusion of foundational knowledge in emerging areas of science in core courses on nursing science and research methods; faculty composition; prerequisite student knowledge and skills; and in-depth, interdisciplinary training in supporting area of science content and methods

What can management theories offer evidence-based practice? A comparative analysis of measurement tools for organisational context

Background: Given the current emphasis on networks as vehicles for innovation and change in health service delivery, the ability to conceptualise and measure organisational enablers for the social construction of knowledge merits attention. This study aimed to develop a composite tool to measure the organisational context for evidence-based practice (EBP) in healthcare. Methods: A structured search of the major healthcare and management databases for measurement tools from four domains: research utilisation (RU), research activity (RA), knowledge management (KM), and organisational learning (OL). Included studies were reports of the development or use of measurement tools that included organisational factors. Tools were appraised for face and content validity, plus development and testing methods. Measurement tool items were extracted, merged across the four domains, and categorised within a constructed framework describing the absorptive and receptive capacities of organisations. Results: Thirty measurement tools were identified and appraised. Eighteen tools from the four domains were selected for item extraction and analysis. The constructed framework consists of seven categories relating to three core organisational attributes of vision, leadership, and a learning culture, and four stages of knowledge need, acquisition of new knowledge, knowledge sharing, and knowledge use. Measurement tools from RA or RU domains had more items relating to the categories of leadership, and acquisition of new knowledge; while tools from KM or learning organisation domains had more items relating to vision, learning culture, knowledge need, and knowledge sharing. There was equal emphasis on knowledge use in the different domains. Conclusion: If the translation of evidence into knowledge is viewed as socially mediated, tools to measure the organisational context of EBP in healthcare could be enhanced by consideration of related concepts from the organisational and management sciences. Comparison of measurement tools across domains suggests that there is scope within EBP for supplementing the current emphasis on human and technical resources to support information uptake and use by individuals. Consideration of measurement tools from the fields of KM and OL shows more content related to social mechanisms to facilitate knowledge recognition, translation, and transfer between individuals and groups

Lost in knowledge translation:Our shifting research landscape

In 2018 there is a new research modality. Research is increasingly produced by individuals and organizations not formally affiliated with academic institutions; based on funding that does not come from the public sphere; aligned with and intended to support advocacy perspectives and is designed for use by particular communities and agents. The new research modality presents challenges and opportunities. While all of these new agents in the research landscape are well educated and qualified to conduct research, in many cases they are operating outside of the traditional research environment and perhaps with a different set of “research cultural norms”. This new research modality in fact begs for a solution similar to that promoted within the health sciences field – a model of knowledge translation. A panel of researchers drawn from across the new research landscape will engage with information professionals to discuss six key questions.</p

“I Won’t Use the Term Dumbing It Down, but You Have to Take the Scientific Jargon Out”: A Qualitative Study of Environmental Health Partners’ Communication Practices and Needs

Effective research translation and science communication are necessary for successful implementation of water resources management initiatives. This entails active involvement of stakeholders through collaborative partnerships and knowledge-sharing practices. To follow up a recent study with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)–funded Center for Oceans and Human Health and Climate Change Interactions (OHHC2I) project investigators, the center’s Community Engagement Core (CEC) documented center partners’ science communication practices and needs to inform a collaborative training and improve investigator-partner bidirectional communication. Thirteen (13) individuals participated in 10 semi-structured qualitative interviews focused on their research translation needs, science communication and dissemination tactics, and interactions and experiences with scientists. Based on our findings, we recommend a collaborative, scientist-stakeholder training to include plain language development, dissemination tactics, communication evaluation, stakeholder and intended audience engagement, and strategies for effective transdisciplinary partnerships. This work contributes to the knowledge and understanding of stakeholder engagement practices specifically focused on science communication that can enhance relationship-building between academia and partners involved in environmental health–focused initiatives in the context of South Carolina but applicable elsewhere

Organizational Activities in Nursing Research Transfer from Viewpoint of Nurse Educators in Iranian Universities of Medical Sciences

Background: Transferring research-based knowledge into practice would help to maximize the quality of health care. However, the role of knowledge producers and the organizational roles related to knowledge transfer have been largely ignored. Objectives: This study was accomplished with the aim of describing the organizational activities needed to transfer the findings of nursing research from the viewpoint of nurse educators in Iranian Universities of Medical Sciences. Patients and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out with participating 279 nurse educators of medical sciences universities. Data were collected using Knowledge Translation Self-Assessment Tool for Research Institutes (SATORI). Results: Nursing faculty members evaluated the organizational activities of transferring the knowledge of nursing research at the “medium” level and for the domains of “the question of research” and “promoting the use of evidence” at a “weak” level and in the domains of “knowledge production” and “knowledge transfer” at a “medium” level. Conclusions: Organizational activities related to the knowledge transfer of nursing research are demonstrably low (medium at best). It is recommended that in each faculty and with the participation of all faculty members, the research transferring procedure should be assessed and all necessary changes needed to improve the research transferring procedure should be implemented

Genre-based teaching of medical translation

This paper describes the advances in teaching medical translation in Hungary. since the 1950s English has become the dominant language in health sciences, and there is an increased need for English–Hungarian translators in the field. Our medical translator programme has undergone several changes in the past 25 years answering the current needs. Our main objective is to develop the textual and communicative competence of students, teach them problem solving strategies and tactics, and encourage their creativity as an addition to the knowledge of translation theory and linguistics and of the knowledge of English/Hungarian for medical purposes. Developing their translation competence is based on the concept of text genre. Mediation is taught by providing them health related texts with text models and patterns that they can use for textual, conceptual, linguistic and terminological reference

Sources to Seafood: Mercury Pollution in the Marine Environment

In 2010, the Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program at Dartmouth College brought together a group of 50 scientists and policy stakeholders to form C-MERC, the Coastal and Marine Mercury Ecosystem Research Collaborative. The goal was to review current knowledge—and knowledge gaps—relating to a global environmental health problem, mercury contamination of the world’s marine fish. C-MERC participants attended two workshops over a two-year period, and in 2012 C-MERC authors published a series of peer-reviewed papers in the journals Environmental Health Perspectives and Environmental Research that elucidated key processes related to the inputs, cycling, and uptake of mercury in marine ecosystems, effects on human health, and policy implications. This report synthesizes the knowledge from these papers in an effort to summarize the science relevant to policies being considered at regional, national, and global levels. The Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program uses an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the ways that arsenic and mercury in the environment affect ecosystems and human health. Arsenic and mercury are commonly found in Superfund sites around the U.S. as well as other areas that result in exposures to certain communities. The Research Translation Core of the program communicates program science to government partners, non-governmental organizations, health care providers and associations, universities and the lay community, and facilitates the use of its research for the protection of public health. The Research Translation Core organized the C-MERC effort. The Superfund Research Program of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences supports a network of university programs that investigate the complex health and environmental issues associated with contaminants found at the nation’s hazardous waste sites. The Program coordinates with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, federal entities charged with management of environmental and human health hazards associated with toxic substances