Health care management review
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Health Care Manage Rev · Apr 2007
Increasing the relevance of research to health care managers: hospital CEO imperatives for improving quality and lowering costs.
Evidence-based management assumes that available research evidence is consistent with the problems and decision-making conditions faced by those who will utilize this evidence in practice. ⋯ The results suggest a need to expand the methods utilized by health services researchers to make their research more relevant to health care managers. Expanding research methods to reflect the systemic way that managers view the challenges and solutions facing their organizations may enhance the application of research findings into management practice. Finally, better communication is needed between the research and practice communities. Researchers must learn to think more like managers if their research is to be relevant, and managers must learn to more effectively communicate their issues with the research community and frame their problems in researchable terms.
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Medical research continues to focus overwhelmingly on biomedical interventions, such as drugs, devices, and procedures. The dysfunctional health care cultures and systems need more attention for quality of care to improve further. ⋯ Health care organizations can improve the quality of care and reduce medical errors significantly by enhancing learning from mistakes and boosting camaraderie and morale of their employees. They can do so by breaking down silos in their structures, implementing just and fair management practices, and involving employees in decision making.