Research that matters. Responsiveness of university medical centers to issues in population health and health care

This advisory report concerns the responsiveness of health care research carried out by Dutch University Medical Centres (UMCs). Responsiveness is taken to mean the degree to which, or the manner in which, UMC research programmes respond to public health and health care issues. The report investigates the following questions put to the Advisory Council on Health Research (Raad voor Gezondheidsonderzoek, RGO) by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport, VWS): how do UMCs draw up their research agendas, and what is the best way to ensure sufficient emphasis on major issues in population health and health care? These questions arose from the observation by the ministry that a relatively large part of the research capacity appeared to be assigned to certain topics such as cardiovascular disease and oncology, while other areas such as public health, were given far less research coverage. In an interim report preceding the present one, the RGO defined the concept of ‘responsiveness’ and subsequently analysed the responsiveness of UMCs within a number of research fields. This report is an extension of this preliminary work.

The mission statements drawn up by the UMCs suggest that they consider it their duty to make a contribution to the improvement of population health and health care through their research. The responsiveness of the UMCs is visible at two stages in the research process. Firstly, responsiveness can be detected in the choice and formulation of the research subject: to what extent do these reflect societal health care issues? Secondly, responsiveness is seen in how the research results are translated into potential applications within the health care system and beyond.