Knowledge Mobilitation

In May, 2004, I joined the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation (ONF) as its first Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator. So far, the hardest part of the job has been to explain what it is.

In the last issue of ABILITIES, ONF Chairperson Daryl Rock defined knowledge mobilization as “getting the right information to the right people in the right format at the right time so as to influence decision making.”

That sounds more straightforward than it is.

For example, if you want health professionals to use new treatments, you need facts that have been written up in peer-reviewed journals. But some research suggests that they rely on the opinions of respected colleagues as much as they do the published research. And getting research published can take years. Consumers need information now!

On the other hand, government policy makers need the big picture, including how much all your great ideas will cost (or save) the taxpayer. We also need to understand that these policy makers work for two masters: one political, the other bureaucratic. The political master will make the final decision, but only after the ideas float up through the bureaucracy. Again, consumers are dealing with their injuries day to day.

Consumers need information in plain language, but with enough detail to answer the question, “How does this affect me?” Consumers, after all, are the people who are supposed to benefit from research.

So what is the right information? Who are the right people? What is the right format? And when is the right time? The answer is always, “It depends.” That’s why people who mobilize knowledge must be patient but enthusiastic, disciplined but creative, optimistic but objective.

What, then, makes me think I can mobilize our networks to “get the right information to the right people in the right format at the right time so as to influence decision making?”

Few things in life are certain, but I do have some advantages. I have been around health care long enough that I know some of the right people – or at least some of the people who know the right people – to influence decision making. And I have done different types of jobs in health care, including working in the community, in hospitals and in government. This helps me figure out who needs to know what for their job – the right information. I also have experience as a medical editor and writer for various audiences, which helps me get the right format for information. As well, my eight years in the Community Health Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care have given me insight into the decision-making process in government. Having said that, knowing the right time for all this is a matter of experience, judgment and a bit of luck.

Finally, I have a spinal cord injury, so I have one of the most important insights of all.

Since ONF started in 1998, we have funded nearly 300 research projects on spinal cord injury and acquired brain injury. The first step in our knowledge mobilization program is to do an inventory of the results from the research we have funded. We want to find out how ONF-funded research has been used, where it has been published, where it has been presented, and how it has made a difference.

The second thing we want to do is to identify the main ideas from our research projects. Then we want to put all this information into various formats, including on our website, so that researchers, health care professionals and consumers can use the information. Meanwhile, the ONF will continue to fund research, increasingly with ideas about how that research can be used right from the beginning of the process.

By devoting resources to a full-time staff person and a knowledge mobilization program, the ONF has made a big commitment to getting research off the shelf and into the hands of people who can use it.

HOW TO CONTACT THE ONTARIO NEUROTRAUMA FOUNDATION

404-90 Eglinton Ave. E.

Toronto, Ontario

M4P 2Y3

Phone: (416) 422-2228

Fax: (416) 422-1240

E-mail: [email protected]

http://www.onf.org