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SUMMER 2006

Research Highlights

New Resource on Effective Teamwork in Healthcare
A new publication, co-authored by Ross Baker (Professor, HPME), Louise Lemieux-Charles (Chair, HPME) and colleagues, provides a useful resource for policymakers and healthcare decision makers who are attempting to successfully integrate teamwork into practice. Teamwork in Healthcare: Promoting Effective Teamwork in Healthcare in Canada reviews the characteristics of effective teams, interventions that have successfully implemented teamwork and barriers to implementation. It is based on data from key informant interviews as well as a wide-ranging survey of peer-reviewed and grey literature. The report was commissioned by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF).

Integrating Knowledge Translation into Research Practice
Researchers across Canada share their experiences of integrating knowledge translation into the research process in a new publication released by the CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research. Evidence in Action, Acting on the Evidence is a casebook of the successes and challenges that researchers experienced across 24 CIHR-funded studies. Three stories in this report were co-authored by HPME faculty and staff:

  • Knowledge Translation And Patient Safety: The Canadian Adverse Events Study (Ross Baker, Professor, HPME; Virginia Flintoft, HPME)
  • The Canadian Neonatal Network™ - A Novel Model For Knowledge Translation (Arne Ohlsson, Professor, HPME)
  • Guideline Dissemination Through Integrated Care Networks: Lessons From Ontario’s Best Practice Guidelines For Stroke Care (Dave Davis, Professor, HPME)

Open Access Articles Cited 2 to 3 Times More Frequently
A study by Gunther Eysenbach (Professor, HPME) lends support to the argument that open access (OA) journals can accelerate and increase the dissemination and uptake of research. OA journals offer barrier-free access to the scientific literature through on-line publishing without journal subscription fees. 1,500 OA and non-OA articles published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004 were selected for comparison. The study found that OA articles were twice as likely to be cited in the first ten months after publication, and nearly three times as likely between ten and sixteen months. The high costs of journal subscriptions reduce or delay access, particularly for scientists in developing countries. Study findings were published in the prestigious Public Library of Science (PLoS) on-line series Biology in the May 2006 article, Citation Advantage of Open Access Articles. Gunther is editor of the open-access Journal of Medical Internet Research.


Leadership

MHSc Program Receives Highest Accreditation Ranking
The MHSc Health Administration Program was recently awarded an eight-year accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education. This is the highest possible ranking, and HPME is one of only two programs in North America to hold this award. Four areas of excellence were identified in the report: the integration of the academic program with the field of practice; a faculty of leading researchers who incorporate the latest health services research and innovative thinking into their teaching; a strong problem-based learning format that places emphasis on experiential learning; and the high calibre of the students enrolled in the program.

New Leadership for HPME’s Clinical Epidemiology Program
After six years as Director of HPME's Clinical Epidemiology Program, Gillian Hawker is stepping down to take on new responsibilities as the Chief of Medicine at the Women's College Hospital where she is the Director of the Canadian Osteoarthritis Research Program. Gillian was recently named the first Senior Distinguished Research Investigator by the Arthritis Society of Canada in recognition of her international reputation for excellence in arthritis research. In an interview with Wendy McGuire (Editor, HPME In Focus), she reflects on changes in the field of clinical epidemiology and the HPME Clinical Epidemiology program.

Assistant Program Director Ahmed Bayoumi (Assistant Professor, HPME) becomes the new Program Director in July. Ahmed is a researcher with the Inner City Health Unit of St. Michael's Hospital and Director of Science of the HIV Information Infrastructure Program of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network.

HPME & FIS Lead Development of Master's in Health Informatics Program
Health informationists (information specialists) are critical to harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in healthcare. Yet training is currently very limited, with HPME having one of the few doctoral programs with a concentration in health informatics in Canada. A new interdisciplinary and inter-institutional Master’s in Health Informatics (MHI) Program is currently being developed to address this gap under the leadership of HPME and the U of T Faculty of Information Studies (FIS). The David Cheriton Computer Sciences Department at the University of Waterloo is a third key partner in the program. The new Master’s program will draw on the collective expertise in health systems and knowledge translation (HPME), the strategic management and use of information (FIS) and industry-oriented technical informatics (Waterloo) to train professional health informationists. Partners will be brought together for a visioning retreat in September 2006, with an anticipated launch date of September 2007.


Events

Clinical Epidemiology for Policy-makers and Practitioners
This fall, HPME is offering its first Clinical Epidemiology Institute for individuals who do not have a clinical epidemiology background, but who are conducting research or who need to use research to optimize health decision-making. The course is intended for health care providers, researchers, educators, health care managers, policy makers and persons working in health care industries who wish to acquire a basic knowledge of the field of clinical epidemiology. The week-long Institute will be held November 20-24, 2006 in Toronto. More details, including how to register, will soon be posted on the HPME website.

Physician Leadership Program Fall 2006
HPME’s highly popular Physician Leadership Program is now accepting registrations for its fall 2006 session. Designed for physicians in, or desiring, leadership positions, the program provides the fundamentals of health leadership and management, including tools to influence organizational effectiveness. The program uses a problem-based interactive format and offers post-program follow-up and mentoring. The Fall program consists of two three-day modules:

Module 1: Thursday October 19 to Saturday October 21, 2006
Module 2: Thursday November 16 to Saturday November 18, 2006

Space is limited and always fills well in advance. For more information, or to register, see the HPME website.