Moving Research to Practice

PHSA is committed to improvements in practice through knowledge. One source of knowledge is Research – and assisting health professionals in understanding Research-based knowledge is the focus of the Moving Research to Practice program.

The core of the Moving Research to Practice program is an online training system that takes a current or important research topic that impacts health service and explains it in non-technical language. Training modules: 

• provide the ability to move at your own pace
• let you return at your leisure
• include real-world examples
• require no registration or specialized training
• can be completed in less than 30 minutes

The modules use both sound and visuals to explain how research impacts day-to-day practice. The audio portion of the presentation isn’t just a reading of the slides, but is aimed at providing a more expressive presentation of the material. If you are in a situation where you can’t listen to the audio, just look for the transcript under the notes tab.

This project was funded by a generous grant from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research to enhance provincial research capacity. Additionally, the technology to deliver to content was generously donated by the Health Organization Management program in the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University.

This project is under the joint direction of Dr. Timothy R. Huerta who develops content on a quarterly basis for health service delivery managers and personnel and Dr. Stuart MacLeod, who is responsible for leading PHSA agencies in developing and capitalizing on research and academic partnerships. Dr. MacLeod is also Executive Director of the Child and Family Research Institute and Assistant Dean, Research at UBC’s Faculty of Medicine.

Ideas for future modules should be sent to the Health Services Research Unit care of Dr. Huerta, Research Scientist, PHSA Research and Networks at tim.huerta@ttu.edu

Current Modules

Introduction to Economic Evaluation
Link: http://chierdata.ba.ttu.edu/Reports/EconEvalPub/EconEval1/index.htm

This module is targeted at those interested in learning a little bit about economic evaluation and its use in making decisions in the health care system. It covers four evaluation methods, including cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis. No prior knowledge of economics is required.

Critical Appraisal and Economic Evaluation
Link: http://chierdata.ba.ttu.edu/Reports/EconEvalPub/EconEval2/index.htm

This expands on the first module to assist individuals assess published economic evaluations. This module uses four questions you can use to critically evaluate an economic evaluation. No prior knowledge of economics is required, however participants should review the “Introduction to Economic Evaluation” module.

Budget Impact Analysis (BIA)
Link: http://chierdata.ba.ttu.edu/Reports/EconEvalPub/EconEval3/index.htm

This module provides an introduction to Budget Impact Analysis, a common tool used to inform decision-making in health contexts. BIAs have been called scenario testing and “what-if” calculations, and in the end, they are about estimating the impact on the bottom line. If you’ve ever heard of a “budget analyst”, BIA is most often what they spend their time doing. This training module will present the fundamentals of BIA. No prior knowledge of economics is required.