German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW), Schützenstraße 6A, 10117, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2020 Dec;26(6):2893-2910. doi: 10.1007/s11948-020-00234-0. Epub 2020 Jun 26.
Promoting translational research as a means to overcoming chasms in the translation of knowledge through successive fields of research from basic science to public health impacts and back is a central challenge for research managers and policymakers. Organizational leaders need to assess baseline conditions, identify areas needing improvement, and to judge the impact of specific initiatives to sustain or improve translational research practices at their institutions. Currently, there is a lack of such an assessment tool addressing the specific context of translational biomedical research. To close this gap, we have developed a new survey for assessing the organizational climate for translational research. This self-assessment tool measures employees' perceptions of translational research climate and underlying research practices in organizational environments and builds on the established Survey of Organizational Research Climate, assessing research integrity. Using this tool, we show that scientists at a large university hospital (Charité Berlin) perceive translation as a central and important component of their work. Importantly, local resources and direct support are main contributing factors for the practical implementation of translation into their own research practice. We identify and discuss potential leverage points for an improvement of research climate to foster successful translational research.
将转化研究作为一种手段来克服从基础科学到公共卫生影响等连续研究领域中知识转化的鸿沟，是研究经理人和政策制定者面临的核心挑战。组织领导者需要评估基线条件，确定需要改进的领域，并评估特定举措的影响，以维持或改善其机构的转化研究实践。目前，缺乏针对转化生物医学研究特定背景的这种评估工具。为了弥补这一差距，我们开发了一种新的调查工具，用于评估转化研究的组织氛围。这个自我评估工具衡量了员工对组织环境中转化研究氛围和潜在研究实践的看法，并以已建立的组织研究氛围调查为基础，评估研究诚信。使用这个工具，我们表明，一家大型大学医院（柏林夏里特医院）的科学家将转化视为其工作的核心和重要组成部分。重要的是，当地资源和直接支持是将转化实际应用于自己的研究实践的主要因素。我们确定并讨论了提高研究氛围以促进成功转化研究的潜在杠杆点。
