How to enhance development and collaboration in surgical research

Abstract

Development and Collaboration in Surgical Research is required for three basic reasons: 1. New approaches are allowing for constant re-evaluation and rethinking of heretofore accepted techniques and protocols 2. Observation and experience in interacting with one's patients should be the stimulus and trigger for seeking new and improved outcomes 3. Surgical disciplines, more than any other, are dependent on technology convergence that requires knowledge, not only from other medical disciplines but also from other sciences (physical, material, information and chemistry etc.) Surgery has some unique opportunities and challenges. It is, however, part of a larger system and as such is enabled or constrained by the appropriate alignment of structures, processes and systems to facilitate collaboration and the development of innovative practices. The benefits of research in improving the health and wealth of the nation are well demonstrated, and include: 1. Research that has helped understand the determinants of health and informs preventative strategies 2. Medical research that develops new interventions to cure and treat disease 3. Research into innovative ways of delivering care 4. Translational Research that bridges between scien-tific discoveries and clinical practice 5. Economic spin-offs that a strong research base provides by attracting industry and jobs Particularly relevant to surgery are the examples of improvements that have occurred through translational research i.e. improved care and outcomes that came from learning and experience when researchers and clinicians worked in unison to develop, evaluate and test novel interventions and improvements in the clinical setting. It is recognised that surgical disciplines have, for many reasons, real and imagined, been seen as lagging behind their medical colleagues in academic productivity and hence innovation. The correlation as to cause and effect is difficult to quantify, but at the very least, it will benefit from better alignment and integration and the embedding of academic goals and culture into practice and the learning environment. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.