Public Health Systems and Services Research: Bridging the Practice-Research Gap.

Public health practitioners understand the principles of evidence-based practice and the science that should drive their efforts to improve the community’s health through the implementation of science-driven public health programs. However, the translation of research to practice still has numerous barriers. This commentary provides suggestions to strengthen the link between research and practice

The Evolution of Public Health-Hospital Collaboration in the United States

Collaboration refers to relationships in which two or more independent parties voluntarily decide to work together to address a common purpose. Collaborative arrangements take many forms, from informal, nonbinding agreements for information sharing on topics of mutual interest to formal alliances that entail the creation of new organizational entities, substantial financial investments, and long-term legal commitments. In the health field, the spectrum of collaborative endeavors is wide and diverse. An important segment of this spectrum consists of collaborative arrangements among public health agencies, hospitals, and other parties (e.g., school systems and businesses) that unite to address one or more health issues and improve the culture of health in their communities. Evidence suggests that such collaborative partnerships can have beneficial collective impact. Our work focuses on public health–health care collaboration and not the broader issue of public health–health care integration. The history of collaboration between the public health and hospital sectors is mixed at best; although close, mutually beneficial partnerships exist in some U.S. communities, they are not prevalent across the United States. We offer our perspective on past collaboration between the public health and hospital sectors, review emerging patterns, and discuss future prospects for these patterns

Research Partnerships with Healthcare Providers in Rural Community Health Centers: Needs and Challenges in Diabetes Research

Kentucky has among the highest rates of diabetes and obesity in the United States. The Kentucky Diabetes and Obesity Collaborative (KDOC) was designed to develop a novel research infrastructure that can be used by researchers focusing on obesity and diabetes among patients cared for by Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) serving rural Kentucky. Focus groups were carried out to develop an understanding of the needs and interests of FQHC practitioners and staff regarding participation in KDOC. Focus groups were conducted with 6 FQHCs and included a total of 41 individuals including health care providers, administrative staff and clinical staff. The discussions ranged in time from 30 to 70 minutes and averaged 45 minutes. Analysis of the transcripts of the focus groups revealed 4 themes: 1) contextual factors, 2) infrastructure, 3) interpersonal relationships, and 4) clinical features. The participants also noted four requirements that should be met for a research project to be successful in rural primary care settings: 1) there must be a shared understanding of health priorities of rural communities between the researcher and the practices/providers; 2) the proposed research must be relevant to clinics and their communities; 3) research and recommendations for evidence-based interventions need to reflect the day-to-day challenges of rural primary care providers; and 4) there needs to be an understanding of community norms and resources. Although research-clinic partnerships were viewed favourably overall, challenges in data integration to support both research and clinical outcomes were identified