Health Services Research

Description

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research defines health services research in the following way:

“…a multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviours affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care, and, ultimately, Canadians' health and well-being”. (http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/48809.html)

The members of the Health Services Research Cluster in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University are committed to achieving the goal of improving the health and well-being of Canadians through their research efforts. Together, the cluster members have a wide breadth of experience in research approaches including: randomized trials (particularly pragmatic and cluster trials); qualitative research; social network analysis; mixed methods research; systematic reviews; population-based cohort studies; analysis of health administrative data; time series analysis; computer modeling; and decision analytic modeling.

The cluster is characterized by its work in:

  • Supporting learning health system approaches which integrate research into care delivery;
  • Promoting collaboration in research among laypersons (including patients), practitioners, researchers and policy-makers;
  • Achieving excellence in the development and application of methodologic approaches to health services research;
  • Fostering transdisciplinary and inter-professional approaches in conducting research;
  • Harnessing the diverse expertise and methodologic knowledge of our cluster members, across areas of focus, interests, and disciplines.

Vision

To advance informative health services research to promote health care and health system improvement nationally and internationally.

Goals

  • Facilitating the sharing of expertise, resources, and data relevant to health services research.
  • Developing a critical mass of researchers focused on health services research.
  • Becoming a leader in selected approaches to conducting health services research, e.g. cluster trials using routinely collected data.
  • Enhancing collaborative research relationships amongst health services researchers within the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and to further establish collaborations with researchers outside of the Department.    

Researchers in the Health Services Research Cluster