Putting science to work for health care reform: how much research is available to support improvements to our hospitals?

OBJECTIVE To assess how much Australian research is available to inform reform of hospital services. DESIGN Bibliographic analysis using a MEDLINE search to locate all research publications focused on the organisation and delivery of Australian hospital services for the period 1996 through 2007. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Number of peer-reviewed articles published by year and categorised by: study design (descriptive, methodological, intervention); type of intervention; clinical focus; and funding source. RESULTS 679 articles on the organisation and delivery of Australian hospital services were published in peer-reviewed journals from 1 January 1996 to 31 December 2007. Of these, 57% were empirical research reports and 43% were commentaries. There were, on average, 32 empirical research articles per annum. Of the empirical research articles, 70% were descriptive, 23% tested an intervention, and 7% were methodological. Research output increased over time with increases in commentary and descriptive research being the main contributors to this trend. The main funding bodies for this research were universities and government departments. CONCLUSION A small but growing amount of local research is available to support reform of Australian hospital services. To boost the amount of relevant research evidence, we need to: build formal partnerships between researchers, policymakers, clinicians and health service managers; make targeted investment in health systems and services research; and increase the use of routinely collected data for research.