Health Research BC issuing RFP for environmental scan of BC’s health research infrastructure and processes

Research as part of the health-care ecosystem is increasingly recognized as one path towards achieving goals for high-performing health systems. There is awareness among health care organizations that there are gaps and inconsistencies in research infrastructure within and between health regions in BC.

These gaps include insufficient hard funding for research support services, a patchwork of jurisdictional bodies and staffing concerns. The COVID pandemic has brought many of these gaps into the public spotlight and reinforced the need for a more cohesive and coordinated approach to research in the health-care system.

To help identify and address these gaps, Health Research BC has been working with colleagues in the health care system to determine what is needed to create a health system that integrates research and care. To that end, a request for proposals is now open for a consultant to conduct an environmental scan of BC’s health regions to better understand the existing research infrastructure and capacity.

The environmental scan will:

• Gather information about the structure and positioning of research departments within selected health care organizations.
• Understand the research services and supports provided for internal and external stakeholders related to each health authority’s research development and use, operations, and conduct.
• Identify where research infrastructure in the health-care organizations is being used to support learning health system activities that are not specifically research (for example, quality improvement and evaluation).
• Identify opportunities for supporting and sustaining research capacity within health care organizations.

This work is part of broader efforts by many players in the province to integrate research and learning health system concepts into our health system.