In today's NHS, qualitative research is increasingly important as a method of assessing and improving quality of care. Grounded theory has developed as an analytical approach to qualitative data over the last 40 years. It is primarily an inductive process whereby theoretical insights are generated from data, in contrast to deductive research where theoretical hypotheses are tested via data coll...

As the availability of both health utilization and outcome information becomes increasingly important to health care researchers and policy makers, the ability to link person-specific health data becomes a critical objective. The integration of population-based administrative health databases has been realized in British Columbia by constructing an historical file of all persons registered with...

BACKGROUND While significant strides have been made in health research, the incorporation of research evidence into healthcare decision-making has been marginal. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of how the utility of health services research can be improved through the use of theory. Integrating theory into health services research can improve research methodology and encoura...

BACKGROUND In health services research, there is a growing view that partnerships between researchers and decision-makers (i.e., collaborative research teams) will enhance the effective translation and use of research results into policy and practice. For this reason, there is an increasing expectation by health research funding agencies that health system managers, policy-makers, practitioners...

BACKGROUND More than half a million new items of biomedical research are generated every year and added to Medline. How successful are we at applying this steady accumulation of scientific knowledge and so improving the practice of medicine in the USA? DISCUSSION The conventional wisdom is that the US healthcare system is plagued by serious cost, access, safety and quality weaknesses. A compr...

As the number of scientific publications in the biomedical field increases exponentially and as it has become apparent that appropriate synthesis of individual study results is critical in clinical decision making, there is a need for improved reporting of the published studies. One of the first and most comprehensive attempts towards improved reporting was the publication, in 1996, of the core...

BACKGROUND Health professionals need to be integrated more effectively in clinical research to ensure that research addresses clinical needs and provides practical solutions at the coal face of care. In light of limited evidence on how best to achieve this, evaluation of strategies to introduce, adapt and sustain evidence-based practices across different populations and settings is required. Th...