Does research help to inform a district health board's purpose? A qualitative thematic analysis of clinician researcher views.

Aim: The outcomes from research should guide the decisions of healthcare providers, policymakers and funders. This study sought the perspectives of senior hospital clinicians and researchers from a New Zealand district health board (DHB).

Method: A series of interviews asked participants about the purpose and benefits of research to the DHB, and to reflect upon the enablers and barriers they had experienced in conducting and translating research in a DHB context.

Results: Three key themes were identified. The first theme suggested research should inform the DHB's purpose. The second theme identified how the general busyness, lack of research funding and the differing motivations of clinicians and business leaders doesn't make it easy to do research in a DHB. The third theme suggested that research barriers could be seen as opportunities. Participants placed importance on an environment that inspires enquiry; that permits staff to stop and question what they do; that overtly informs its community that research is done to improve the delivery of care; that communicates a purposeful research agenda; and that regularly discusses the intersection of research and the purpose of the DHB.

Conclusion: This study found the absence of an organisation-wide research ethos affected staff engagement in and with research. As a consequence, the effective transfer and translation of knowledge from research was disrupted. Key recommendations were for the DHB to integrate research activity into practice, regularly discuss research evidence and celebrate research achievements.