Photo Courtesy of MedStar Health System
Advancing Translational Research by Design (Expert Roundtable)
RESEARCH TEAM
Debajyoti Pati (PI), Michael Pietrzak, and Tom Harvey
COLLABORATORS
Charles McCall, Walter Armstrong, Robert Clarke, Neil Weissman, Paul Rapp, Ella Franklin, Frank Weinberg, Mark Smith, Beth Benner, Rollin Fairbanks, and Jeffrey Collins, MedStar Institute for Innovation (MI2) Center for Building Sciences
FUNDS
HKS Inc.
WHAT was the aim
This article aims to explore the future of translational research and its physical design implications for community hospitals and hospitals not attached to large centralized research platforms.
Why is it important
With a shift in medical services delivery focus to community wellness, continuum of care, and comparative effectiveness research, healthcare research will witness increasing pressure to include community-based practitioners.
WHAT DID WE DO | HOW DID WE DO IT
The roundtable discussion group, comprising 14 invited experts from 10 institutions representing the fields of biomedical research, research administration, facility planning and design, facility management, finance, and environmental design research, examined the issue in a structured manner. The discussion was conducted at the Washington Hospital Center, MedStar Health, Washington, D.C.
What did we find
Institutions outside the AMCs will be increasingly targeted for future research. Three factors are crucial for successful research in non-AMC hospitals: operational culture, financial culture, and information culture. An operating culture geared towards creation, preservation, and protection of spaces needed for research; creative management of spaces for financial accountability; and a flexible information infrastructure at the system level that enables complete link of key programmatic areas to academic IT research infrastructure are critical to success of research endeavors.
What is next
The future of translational research is changing. An increasing focus will be on T2 research or “bed-side to community.” The continuum of care will reach community-based services and more of the research effort will move into the community for the translational effort to be successful.