HealthcarePapers
The lead essay we wrote (Lindstrom et al. 2011) started with a capacity-building grant from the British Columbia Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, the goal of which was to guide the BC Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA; see http://www.phsa.ca) on improving its performance in translating research into policy. PHSA is a research-intensive organization employing approximately 1,000 researchers, benefiting from more than $25 million annually in philanthropic funds and attracting a further $120 million in grants and contracts to support the research enterprise. It is a prime example of a research and educational enterprise with the capacity to "twist the lion's tail."
Comments
Paul Tanse wrote:
Posted 2011/06/15 at 11:39 AM EDT
The authors write, "In an ideal world it would be possible to de-politicize the healthcare system and have it protected from the vagaries of electoral politics."
Not in my ideal world. Politics is not something nasty or ugly that we should remove from public sector decision making. Or, to put it differently, politics both partisan and general, is the way in which we manage disagreements over both means but especially over ends.
I do not want to live in a world where there are no politics and evidence reigns. In such a world value conflicts would likely be ignored to the detriment of us all.
Patrick Fafard
Professeur agrégé / Associate Professor
École d'affaires publiques et internationales/
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
55 Laurier Est / East, pièce / room 11-105
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5
(bureau / office) (001) 613-562-5800 ext. 4186
pfafard@uottawa.ca
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