Table 1.

Strategies for embedding a culture of research

Strategy	Description	Examples
Communications	Communication strategies must focus on spreading awareness of research and increasing engagement within the clinical program, across the organization and to patients and families in the community.	- Talking about research in clinical program huddles - Sharing internal newsletters and emails with research updates - Hosting organization-wide research days - Engaging the community hospital’s communications or public affairs department to widely share research updates with patients, families and community members via social media and local news outlets
	Communication strategies must also seek to destigmatize research and articulate why research is important.	- “Languaging” research so that “it’s not about research with a ‘big R’” (P2, nurse practitioner) but rather, about finding ways to do things differently and improve patient care can help to decrease intimidation and promote the perspective that research is an important part of clinical practice - Explaining how research can benefit clinical practice
	To secure buy-in from community hospital leadership, communication strategies need to demonstrate the value of research at an organizational level.	- Sharing research updates with the executive team (e.g., monthly department meetings and grand rounds) - Securing external funding opportunities and notifying the leadership team - Disseminating the results of locally relevant studies that have visible impacts for improving healthcare delivery and efficiency within the organization - Sharing academic publications and conference presentations which increase the community hospital’s notoriety
Relationship building	Building relationships with staff across all levels of the organization helps to spread awareness, promote the value of research and secure buy-in from community hospital leadership.	- Being in-person to talk to staff about ongoing projects and share the impact of research on clinical practice - Be available to answer staff questions
Mentorship, training and education	Providing mentorship, training and education opportunities increases awareness and engagement and promotes the value of research. Mentors can be existing champions within the organization, or they can be individuals identified through an academic institution or external professional networks.	- Hosting journal clubs and lunch-and-learns - Attending conferences and professional networking opportunities - Utilizing the educational lead in the department to promote research
Selecting locally relevant studies	Selecting locally relevant studies can help to demonstrate the direct benefit of research for improving clinical practice.	- Choosing studies with topics that align with the interests of clinical staff or hospital leadership, or those that address a problem amongst a specific patient population that the community hospital serves
Formalization	Formalizing research helps to embed it into “the way things are done within the community hospital”. In this way, formalization is both a criterion for achieving an established culture of research and a strategy for strengthening research culture.	- Creating policies and procedures that embed research into clinical practice - Including research in clinical job descriptions - Discussing research in hiring process - Making research a part of the community hospital’s mission, vision and strategic plan - Creating a formal research department or institute
Systems-level support	Participants identify the need for greater system-level support in strengthening community hospital research culture. Within this category, participants highlight the need for more support from provincial and federal governments, quality-reporting organizations, research funding agencies and academic institutions.	- Invest in increasing community hospital research capacity at the provincial and federal levels - Include research as a quality indicator during accreditation processes - Create equitable funding opportunities for community hospitals by ensuring awards address the unique needs of community hospitals and focus on building sustainable research programs - Promote the value of research as an important part of clinical practice to trainees in undergraduate medical and nursing programs - Increase collaborations between academic institutions and community hospitals