Drs. Clara Pelfrey and Valerie Boebel Toly Share Insights and Experiences Concerning Research and Its Impact on Policy
This article is a part of our CTSC Event Recap series.
Did you know that starting with potential policy impact considerations in mind when developing your research question can help lead to outcomes such as improved health or healthcare and informing public health policy or clinical guidelines? Dr. Clara Pelfrey, Evaluation Director of the Case Western Reserve University Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative and Dr. Valerie Boebel Toly, The Arline H. and Curtis F. Garvin Professor of Nursing in the CWRU Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing have and are proof of this possibility.
Dr. Pelfrey presented her research on the phenomena of CTSC research and how it has influenced hundreds of policies globally. The translational science case studies were a result of a collaboration with eight other Clinical and Translational Science Award hubs. The team published a rigorous protocol to conduct translational science case studies in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, published an AudioPod on how research leads from discoveries to improved health, successfully lobbied the JCTS to create a new manuscript category for translational science case studies, and created a classification system for the translational science case studies to enable cross-case analysis. Dr. Pelfrey also highlighted the new translational science benefits model toolkit.
“We asked, ‘how has CTSC-supported research improved human health and informed practice/policy?’ One way is to evaluate how published research findings are used to advance translation,” Dr. Pelfrey explained.
Dr. Toly’s research program deals with families caring for children dependent on lifesaving medical technology (e.g., feeding tubes, mechanical ventilators). She received CTSC support for the majority of her studies, including: space for participant interviews, lab services, research coordinators, and consultation (e.g., READI Consultation). The results from Dr. Toly’s research included professional organization practice guidelines (i.e., American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Children with Disabilities Clinical Report: Non-Oral Feeding for Children with Developmental or Acquired Disabilities - Guidance for the Clinician Rendering Pediatric Care) and theory development for models (i.e., Pediatric Outcomes Research Team & CanChild Centre for Disability Research) that assist with reconceptualization of practice.
“It was actually my dream to see how my research could impact practice [...],” Dr. Toly shared.
Watch the meeting on our YouTube channel.