title: Moving improvement research closer to practice: the Researcher-in-Residence model.
abstract: The traditional separation of the producers of research evidence in academia from the users of that evidence in healthcare organisations has not succeeded in closing the gap between what is known about the organisation and delivery of health services and what is actually done in practice. As a consequence, there is growing interest in alternative models of knowledge creation and mobilisation, ones which emphasise collaboration, active participation of all stakeholders, and a commitment to shared learning. Such models have robust historical, philosophical and methodological foundations but have not yet been embraced by many of the people working in the health sector. This paper presents an emerging model of participation, the Researcher-in-Residence. The model positions the researcher as a core member of a delivery team, actively negotiating a body of expertise which is different from, but complementary to, the expertise of managers and clinicians. Three examples of in-residence models are presented: an anthropologist working as a member of an executive team, operational researchers working in a front-line delivery team, and a Health Services Researcher working across an integrated care organisation. Each of these examples illustrates the contribution that an embedded researcher can make to a service-based team. They also highlight a number of unanswered questions about the model, including the required level of experience of the researcher and their areas of expertise, the institutional facilitators and barriers to embedding the model, and the risk that the independence of an embedded researcher might be compromised. The Researcher-in-Residence model has the potential to engage both academics and practitioners in the promotion of evidence-informed service improvement, but further evaluation is required before the model should be routinely used in practice.
authors.affiliation: UCL, London, UK Improvement Science London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: Clinical Operational Research Unit and Department of Applied Health Research, UCL, London, UK.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pagel
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Health Research, UCL, London, UK.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: French
authors.affiliation: Clinical Operational Research Unit, UCL, London, UK.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Utley
authors.affiliation: Improvement Science London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Allwood
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Health Research, UCL, London, UK.
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fulop
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton, London, UK.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pope
authors.affiliation: Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Banks
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Critical Care Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK.
authors.forename: Allan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goldmann
mesh_terms: D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Decision making; Health services research; Healthcare quality improvement; Implementation science; Management