Strong rural health research depends on organisations having the right support, resources and systems in place. A new study co-authored by Professor Vicki Flood, Director of UCRH, has developed a practical checklist to help health services assess and strengthen their research preparedness.
The paper, Development of a research preparedness checklist for public health organisations: a Delphi study, was published in Contemporary Nurse and involved research leaders from health organisations across New South Wales.
Healthcare professionals are increasingly encouraged to undertake research that informs clinical decision-making and improves patient care. To support this work, health organisations need the right infrastructure, resources and systems in place to build research capacity across their workforce.
To develop the checklist, researchers worked with Directors of Research and research leaders from local health districts and specialty health networks across NSW using a two-round Delphi process. Participants reviewed and refined a draft checklist to identify the organisational supports considered most important for enabling research.
The final checklist contains 62 items grouped into six themes: infrastructure, communication, consumer engagement, outcomes, training and financial support.
Importantly, the checklist is designed to help organisations identify the infrastructure and support needed to enable research across nursing, midwifery, allied health and medical clinician researchers. It also provides a practical tool for organisations to undertake a self-assessment of their current research supports and guide future planning.
The authors say the checklist is the first of its kind developed specifically for Australian health organisations. By providing a structured way to assess research readiness, it has the potential to strengthen research capacity and support better evidence-informed healthcare across rural and regional Australia.
Development of a research preparedness checklist for public health organisations: a Delphi study was published in Contemporary Nurse.
