Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7569

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Publication type: Journal Article

Lomas J.
The in-between world of knowledge brokering
BMJ 2007 Jan 20; 334:(7585):129
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7585/129

Abstract:

“The mere knowledge of a fact is pale; but when you come to realize a fact, it takes on color. It is all the difference of hearing of a man being stabbed to the heart, and seeing it done.”
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee, 1889

The ultimate aim of people engaged in health research is to get the health service’s workforce, its employers, and its suppliers to have knowledge of facts (as represented by research results) and to use these facts in their practices, policies, and products. How well organised is research to achieve this aim? And how receptive and oriented are health services to this aim? The answers seem to be “not well organised” and “not very receptive.” The interpersonal connections needed to bridge this know-do gap are not yet in place.1 An emerging role therefore exists for knowledge brokers, supported by knowledge brokering resources and agencies, . . . [Full text of this article]

Disconnection between research and health services worlds

Research and decision making as processes, not products and events

Box 1: In the nirvana that is a research based health service. . .

Research to action: knowledge brokering as a social solution

Box 2: Attributes and skills of a knowledge broker7 13

Knowledge brokering in Canada

Box 3: Illustrative activities of a knowledge brokering agency: the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation
Setting the research agenda
Facilitating applied research
Disseminating research
Getting research used
Additional resources
Summary points