Defining Research to Improve Health Systems e1001000

• Published in: PLoS medicine Vol. 7; no. 11
• Main Authors: Remme, Jan HF, Adam, Taghreed, Becerra-Posada, Francisco, Devlin, Michael, Gardner, Charles, Ghaffar, Abdul, Hombach, Joachim, Kengeya, Jane FK, Mbewu, Anthony, Mbizvo, Michael T, Mirza, Zafar, Pang, Tikki, Ridley, Robert G, Zicker, Fabio, Terry, Robert F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 01-11-2010
• Subjects: Hospitals; Low income groups; Medical research; Studies; Tropical diseases
• ISSN: 1549-1277; 1549-1676
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001000

Summary Points * Research has an important role to play in strengthening health systems to improve system performance and public health impact. * The multiple definitions of operational research, implementation research, and health systems research creates confusion and negatively affects the credibility and progress of the research. * The aim of this paper is to present working definitions of operational research, implementation research, and health systems research to provide greater clarity for non-specialists, scientists, policymakers, and donors working to strengthen health systems. [...]this should encourage the expansion of study designs and an appreciation of the feasibility of experimentation with different health system solutions.