BC's Interior Health Casebook on 'Knowledge Translation'

Interior Health (IH) is one of 5 geographic regional health authorities in British Columbia, Canada, serving over 737,000 residents with a variety of health services, including acute care, home and community care, mental health and addictions, public health and corporate services (IHA, 2008). A significant proportion of our diverse and rapidly changing population is considered to be rural/remote (~ 3 people/km2), which has the potential to contribute to challenges in sharing information. The need to ensure that evidence informs health planning, policy, resource allocation, management and clinical service delivery is now well recognized within and between each IH service area. Innovation, evidence-based practice, and promoting a learning organization are three of the guiding principles (IHA, 2008).

The Knowledge Translation Casebook: Sharing Stories of Evidence-Informed Practice (106 pgs.) is a culmination of many years of research capacity enhancement within Interior Health, primarily led since December 2005 by the IH Research Capacity Enhancement Team and funded by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research – Health Services and Policy Research Support Network. The team has strived to achieve sustainable research capacity within IH, translate and applying research and build/enhance research partnerships, throughout their time with IH (2005-2010). We hope that the stories contained within this casebook help inspire others within the organization to support their work – practices and decisions – with evidence, collaborate with others, and communicate the benefits of this translation in years to come.