Health Equity Summit: Moving the health equity needle through implementation science and community

It is frequently stated that it takes an average of 17 years for research evidence to reach clinical practice, with estimated a time lag of 17 years measuring different points of the process. Implementation science can accelerate the translation of research findings by assessing how health care professionals and organizations behave and then applying that knowledge to the process of changing routine clinical practice. Implementation of science is a critical piece to getting research initiatives translated into interventions and results at the institutional and patient level. In order to maximize implementation and execution of initiatives in academic medicine, engaged community partnerships are key. These partnerships help minimize the gaps that academic centers have when attempting to improve patient care particularly once patients plan to go home, which is truly needed to move the health equity needle. Houston has a wide variety of active community partnerships in the adult medical space, however implementation and the potential impact of these programs in the pediatric space has been largely missing.

In a previous research project conducted by four academic Texas Children’s hospital subspecialty researchers, a partnership between the Texas Children’s Health plan, electronic medical record, and Houston Food Bank and demonstrated that 38% of the patients we screened had food insecurity. Further, we found that when the Houston Food Bank reached out to patients directly, they were significantly more able to benefit from their services. There are many more individuals in medically underserved communities who could benefit from implementing and disseminating programs through community partnerships.

Our goal for the Symposium is to bring together stakeholders who prioritize the health of children and youth who are experts and/or have a sincere interest in getting involved in community engagement and partnerships, and implementing and translating research into interventions and policy. We plan to hold discussion panels to discuss design and implementation of new solutions that involve multiple stakeholders in community engagement and dissemination and implementation science. In addition, we expect the Symposium to spark innovative networking and collaborations among key stakeholders and Texas Children’s Hospital. A high profile symposium hosted by Texas Children’s Hospital, the #2 children’s hospital in the nation, will refocus our team on community engaged partnerships and implementing research into practice.