Health Services Researchers Working within Healthcare Organizations: The Intriguing Sound of Three Hands Clapping

Abstract

Healthcare organizations offer a promising but complicated work environment for health services researchers. Working directly within these organizations can yield stronger connections with decision-makers, better access to organizational data and, ultimately, greater potential for research findings to influence decisions. However, there are also challenges for the researcher and the host organization related to divergent work objectives, mismatched timelines and unclear criteria for performance assessment. The authors examine the advantages and disadvantages of this research model for both the health services researcher and the decision-maker.