Health Services Research: lessons from abroad
29 January 2008
January 22nd 2008 the RGO organized an invitational conference, ‘Health Services Research: lessons from abroad’.
Many societal challenges in public health and health care need to be addressed, such as those identified by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (see box). The health services research community may take on several of these challenges. Although a direct relation between health services research and health care improvement is often difficult to demonstrate on the short term, in the long run health services research undoubtedly contributes tremendously to the improvement of health care and public health. However, this research field struggles with some difficulties which hamper the efficiency of research and the effect it can have on society. For example, the insufficient capacity building makes the field vulnerable. A problem affecting the impact of health services research on society is the sometimes poor translation of research into policy and practice. Thus, although health services research in the Netherlands has a good reputation (also internationally), there is definitely room for improvement. That’s why the RGO decided to look abroad to see which experiences of the international health services research community the Netherlands can learn from.
Please send your response to bureau@rgo.nl refering to HSR conference.
Social Tasks for Public Health and Health Care
In 2006 the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport published five social tasks as leitmotif for the knowledge and innovation agenda of the health sector. The Dutch copy can be downloaded from www.minvws.nl, an English version can be requested from the Ministry. The five tasks are:
- Anticipation of a growing and changing care demand
- Living longer in good health
- Sustainable quality and patient safety
- Limits of care and dealing with shortages and risks
- Acceleration of development and the application of innovative medical products
The program of the conference can be found here.
The following presentations can be viewed:
- Lenie Kootstra (Director of the International Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport): International Policy Perspective on Health Services Research; Speech
- Colleen Flood (Scientific Director of the CIHR-Institute of Health Services and Policy Research, Canada): Health Services and Policy Research in Canada
- Nick Black (Professor of Health Services Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, England): Health Services Research in England
- Reinhard Busse (Professor of Health Care Management of the Technical University of Berlin, Germany): Health Services Research in the German Health Care System and the Role of the European Union
- Peter Groenewegen (Professor of Spatial and Social Aspects of Health and Health Care, NIVEL, the Netherlands): Health Services Research in the Netherlands
