Putting research in place: An innovative approach to providing contextualized evidence synthesis for decision makers

Abstract

Background: The Contextualized Health Research Synthesis Program (CHRSP), developed in 2007 by the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research, produces contextualized knowledge syntheses for health-system decision makers. The program provides timely, relevant, and easy-to-understand scientific evidence; optimizes evidence uptake; and, most importantly, attunes research questions and evidence to the specific context in which knowledge users must apply the findings. Methods: As an integrated knowledge translation (KT) method, CHRSP: Involves intensive partnerships with senior healthcare decision makers who propose priority research topics and participate on research teams; Results: CHRSP has published 25 syntheses on priority topics chosen by the provincial healthcare system, including: Clinical and cost-effectiveness: telehealth, rural renal dialysis, point-of-care testing; Conclusions: By asking the health system to identify its own priorities and to participate directly in the research process, CHRSP fully integrates KT among researchers and knowledge users in healthcare in Newfoundland and Labrador. This high level of decision-maker buy-in has resulted in a corresponding level of uptake. CHRSP studies have directly informed a number of policy and practice directions, including the design of youth residential treatment centers, a provincial policy on single-use medical devices, and most recently, the opening of the province's first Acute Care for the Elderly hospital unit.