Sydney Health Partners and Health Districts Support Implementation Science with New Funding
Seven projects have received pilot grants of $25,000 each after being shortlisted by the inaugural Sydney Health Partners Implementation Science Grant Program in 2020. The grants are in addition to the four projects funded directly by Sydney Health Partners last August as part of the program.
SHP’s Director of Implementation Science, Dr Nicole Rankin, says all the pilot projects are examining ways to fast-track healthcare innovations into routine clinical practice, with a particular focus on testing how the interventions – and the strategies used to implement them – operate in real-world clinical settings.
“Our health services are looking for evidence-based solutions to their most pressing problems,” she said. “But we all know that research translation is not a straight-forward, linear process. It takes time, in the same way that bench-to-bedside translational research does.”
“We believe that by building capacity in the science of research translation, and by improving the capacity of collaborative teams, we can reduce the barriers to the efficient and effective translation of research into clinical practice.”
SHP Executive Director, Professor Don Nutbeam, says the extra financial support provided by Sydney Local Health District (SLHD), Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) and Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD) is indicative of the Partners’ strong commitment to research translation.
“Having received a large number of high-quality grant applications, Sydney Health Partners asked for additional support from its Partners and they have responded magnificently,” said Professor Nutbeam. “I’d like to thank the local health districts for recognising the promise of these implementation projects and I am confident they will receive great value from the funds they’ve provided.”
Research implementation funded by SLHD includes a web-based intervention to support families who have lost a child to sudden cardiac death, a wholistic approach to reducing the risk of hip fractures, the development of Australian guidelines for the use of mobile chest radiographs for COVID-19 patients, and an oncologist-delivered intervention to manage fear of cancer recurrence.
