The reforming appeal of distributed leadership

et al. 2020

Health Res Policy Sys

Background Over the past decade, Research Translation Centres (RTCs) have been established in many countries. These centres (sometimes referred to as Academic Health Science Centres) are designed to bring universities and healthcare providers together in order to accelerate the generation and translation of new evidence that is responsive to health service and community priorities. This has the potential to effectively ‘flip’ the traditional research and education paradigms because it requires active participation and continuous engagement with stakeholders (especially service users, the community and frontline clinicians). Although investment and expectations of RTCs are high, the literature confirms a need to better understand the processes that RTCs use to mobilise knowledge, build workforce capacity, and co-produce research with patients and the public to ensure population impact and drive healthcare improvement. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with selected leaders and members from select RTCs in England and Australia. Convenience sampling was utilised to identify RTCs, based on their geography, accessibility and availability. Purposive sampling and a snowballing approach were employed to recruit individual participants for interviews, which were conducted face to face or via videoconferencing. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a reflexive and inductive approach. This involved two researchers comparing codes and interrogating themes that were analysed inductively against the study aims and through meetings with the research team. Results A total of 41 participants, 22 from England and 19 from Australia were interviewed. Five major themes emerged, including (1) dissonant metrics, (2) different models of leadership, (3) public and patient involvement and research co-production, (4) workforce development and (5) barriers to collaboration. Conclusions Participants identified the need for performance measures that capture community impact. Better aligned success metrics, enhanced leadership, strategies to partner with patients and the public, enhanced workforce development and strategies to enhance collaboration were all identified as crucial for RTCs to succeed.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Flipping the paradigm: a qualitative exploration of research translation centres in the United Kingdom and Australia

et al. 2020

Health Res Policy Sys

“…The challenge of how to integrate research in healthcare is arguably not amenable to hierarchical leadership. Distributed leadership offers a means of harnessing insights from multiple stakeholders and improving the quality of decision making (26). Study ndings accord with current literature on leadership and several participants identi ed that distributed and collective leadership need to be embedded and evaluated in RTCs.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Flipping the Paradigm: A Qualitative Exploration of Research Translation Centres in the UK and Australia

et al. 2020

Preprint

Background: Over the past decade Research Translation Centres (RTC’s) have been established in many countries. These Centres (sometimes referred to as Academic Health Science Centres) are designed to bring universities and health care providers together in order to accelerate the generation and translation of new evidence that is responsive to health service and community priorities. This has the potential to effectively ‘flip’ the traditional research and education paradigms because it requires active participation and continuous engagement with stakeholders (especially service users, the community and frontline clinicians). Although investment and expectations of RTCs are high, the literature confirms a need to better understand the processes RTCs use to mobilise knowledge, build workforce capacity and co-produce research with patients and the public to ensure population impact and drive healthcare improvement is needed. Methods: Semi structured interviews were conducted with selected leaders and members from select RTCs in England and Australia. Convenience sampling was utilised to identify RTC’s, based on their geography, accessibility and availability. Purposive sampling and a snowballing approach was employed to recruit individual participants for interviews that were conducted face to face or via videoconferencing. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a reflexive and inductive approach. This involved two researchers comparing codes and interrogating themes that were analysed inductively against the study aims and through meetings with the research team. Results: A total of 41 participants, 22 from England and 19 from Australia were interviewed. Five major themes emerged including (1) dissonant metrics, (2) different models of leadership (3) public-patient involvement and research co-production (4) workforce development (5) barriers to collaboration.Conclusions: Participants identified the need for performance measures that capture community impact. Better aligned success metrics, enhanced leadership, strategies to partner with patients and the public, enhanced workforce development and strategies to enhance collaboration were all identified as crucial for RTCs to succeed.

“…The challenge of how to integrate research in healthcare is arguably not amenable to hierarchical leadership. Distributed leadership offers a means of harnessing insights from multiple stakeholders and improving the quality of decision making (26). Accordingly, several participants identified that distributed leadership now needs to be embedded in RTCs and evaluated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flipping the Paradigm: A Qualitative Exploration of Research Translation Centres in the UK and Australia

et al. 2020

Preprint

Background: Over the past decade Research Translation Centres have been established in many countries. These Centres (sometimes referred to as Academic Health Science Centres) were established to accelerate the generation and translation of new evidence that is responsive to health service and community priorities. This effectively ‘flips’ the traditional research and education paradigms because it requires active participation and continuous engagement with stakeholders (especially service users, the community and frontline clinicians). Although investment and expectations of RCTs are high, the literature confirms a need to better understand the processes RTCs use to mobilise knowledge, build workforce capacity and co-produce research with patients and the public to ensure population impact and drive healthcare improvement is needed. Methods: Semi structured interviews were conducted with selected leaders and members from RTCs in the UK and Australia. Convenience sampling was utilised based on geography, accessibility and availability. In addition, a snowballing approach was employed with further participants identified by RTC leaders and advisors from Public and Patient initiatives in the UK. Interviews were conducted face to face or via videoconferencing and were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a reflexive and inductive approach described by Braun and Clarke (2???). This involved re-reading and coding transcripts to generate initial themes. This inductive approach was used to identify patterns and common threads that were subsequently reviewed by two researchers to ensure consistentcy of themes. Results: A total of 41 participants, 22 from the UK and 19 from Australia were interviewed. Five major themes emerged including (1) dissonant metrics, (2) Different models of leadership (3) Public-Patient Involvement and research co-production (4) Workforce development (5) Barriers to collaboration. Conclusions: Participants identified the need for performance measures that capture community impact. Better aligned success metrics, enhanced leadership, strategies to partner with patients and the public, enhanced workforce development and strategies to enhance collaboration were all identified as crucial for RTCs to succeed.