There is a growing body of literature about the barriers to, and enablers of, the use of research evidence in policy and practice. Research funders are in a unique position to influence activities aimed at promoting research use. During the past decade, NSW (New South Wales) Health has systematically built and invested in an integrated population and health services research portfolio made up o...

RESEARCH IS KEY IN THE PROCESS OF CHANGE.” THAT’S HOW DR. BRIAN Postl begins a conversation on strategies to ensure a stable and reliable bridge between researchers and policy makers in healthcare. He suggests “evidence” as one of four themes that the journal Healthcare Policy should consider as it looks at knowledge and its impact on policy and practice. And he is quick to agree that we need ...

The ability to integrate information, perform accurate and unbiased analysis, and generate flexible reports is in great demand in healthcare research. This paper uses a real-world example to illustrate an automated and easily managed process to perform a comprehensive analysis. It will demonstrate macros that help programmers determine what types of statistical tests will be appropriate to exam...

Improving population health requires understanding and changing societal structures and functions, but countervailing forces sometimes undermine those changes, thus reflecting the adaptive complexity inherent in public health systems. The purpose of this paper is to propose systems thinking as a conceptual rubric for the practice of team science in public health, and transdisciplinary, translat...

The world is facing an unprecedented global economic crisis, with many countries needing to reconsider their level of health care spending. This paper explores the many consequences of the global economic turndown on Pakistan's health, including reduced government and donor spending and increased poverty with the consequent diversion of funds away from health. Nevertheless, these challenges may...

It is unclear whether efforts of the past decade to modernize state public health statutes have succeeded in codifying into state law the currently understood mission and essential services of public health. Although many state health agencies may be operating in a manner consistent with these principles, their codification in state law is crucial for the sustainability of agency efforts in dis...