Health services research is not well integrated with healthcare delivery, a problem that limits researchers' opportunities to learn from real-world practice settings and develop scientifically sound, practice-based evidence that meaningfully improves healthcare delivery and health outcomes. The disconnect between research and practice is further exacerbated by a fast-changing clinical context that complicates classical research methods and limits clinicians' ability to engage in research. A major barrier to integrating healthcare research and practice change is the fact that researchers are not embedded in clinical settings. Embedding research within the walls, teams, and priorities of health systems, encourages dialogue between researchers, clinicians, and administrators, while increasing the responsiveness and applicability of research to the needs of practice without sacrificing scientific rigor. Historically, training programs have emphasized scientific rigor, but have not equipped researchers to embed in healthcare systems and engage in rapid, iterative learning. We propose a program, the Minnesota Learning Health System Mentored Career Development Program (MN- LHS), that is specifically designed to train embedded researchers who will systematically generate, adopt, and apply evidence quickly to improve personalization, quality, equity, and outcomes of care. The MN-LHS is a collaboration between the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic, and the safety net hospital system, Hennepin County Medical Center. It will leverage these institutions' long traditions of academic excellence, innovation, and research collaboration between clinicians and embedded researchers in pursuit of three primary aims. First, we will recruit and train a diverse group of learning health system (LHS) researchers who embed themselves into healthcare operations, conduct rigorous research responsive to the needs of clinical practices and patients, bring value to decision-making processes, and rapidly translate research to improve clinical practice and outcomes (Aim 1). Second, we will provide tailored educational experiences built upon existing robust educational infrastructure, novel competency-based curricula, health system partners as learning ?labs? for LHS research, and unrivaled expertise in training embedded clinical scholars using patient-centered LHS philosophies and methods (Aim 2). Finally, we will implement a rigorous system for program evaluation and improvement and an administrative structure to monitor strength of mentoring, supportiveness of learning environment, strength of mentoring, traditional research metrics (publications and grants), degree of embeddedness, and uptake of scholar's research within clinical practice (Aim 3). The MN-LHS will serve as a model for other institutions and be a strong partner in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Learning Collaborative.
The purpose of the Minnesota Learning Health System Mentored Career Development Program is to create a dynamic training environment for scholars to learn in, and meaningfully improve, healthcare systems serving children, the elderly, underrepresented minorities, rural populations, veterans, and those with multimorbidity.
