Health Services Research Core Competencies: Final Report 2008

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Table 4. Health Services Research (HSR) Doctoral Level Core Competencies

Number (#)	Label	Competency	Domain* Examples
1	Foundational knowledge	Acquire knowledge of the context of health and health care systems, institutions, actors, and environment	Health and biology Cost & financing of health care Organization of health care Health policy Access and use Quality of care Social determinants of health Health disparities Health informatics Outcomes and effectiveness Resource allocation Health behavior Cross-cultural and global perspectives
2	Theoretical knowledge	Apply or develop theoretical and conceptual models relevant to health services research	[Variable depending on the discipline or interdisciplinary area of specialization] Theory construction Economics Epidemiology Psychology Sociology Management Political science Anthropology Operations research Demography
3	Relevant and important HSR question development	Pose relevant and important research questions, evaluate them, and formulate solutions to health problems, practice and policy	Scientific method and theory Proposal/grant development Assessment of evidence Gap analysis Stakeholder analysis
4	Conceptual models and operational methods	Use or develop a conceptual model to specify study constructs for a health services research question and develop variables that reliably and validly measure these constructs	Scientific method and theory Measurement and variables Conceptual and analytic (empirical) models Causal models Qualitative research Quantitative research
5	Study designs	Describe the strengths and weaknesses of study designs to appropriately address specific health services research questions	Study designs Observational vs. experimental designs Survey research Qualitative research designs Quantitative research designs Mixed method designs Intervention research Community based participatory research Evaluation research Quality improvement
6	Data collection and management methods	Sample and collect primary health and health care data and/or assemble and manage existing data from public and private sources	Survey research Qualitative research Operations research Data acquisition Data mining File creation and database management Quality control Sampling Health informatics
7	Research conduct management	Execute and document procedures that ensure the reproducibility of the science, the responsible use of resources, the ethical treatment of research subjects	Responsible conduct of research Ethics Authorship Conflict of interest Research integrity Human subjects/IRBs HIPAA Contracts, MOUs, DUAs Quantitative research Qualitative research Data acquisition Quality control & DMBs Research study management Organizations as subjects Health care law and risk management Budget development and management
8	Data analysis	Demonstrate proficiency in the appropriate application of analytical techniques to evaluate HSR questions	Economic evaluation CEA/CBA Statistics, biostatistics and econometric methods Estimation and prediction methods Operations research and decision sciences Analysis of complex samples Advanced qualitative analytic methods Advanced quantitative analytic methods Meta-analysis
9	Professional development	Work collaboratively in teams within disciplines, across disciplines, and/or with stakeholders	Teamwork Leadership Team management Conflict resolution Knowledge management Project management Negotiation Teaching Mentoring Cross-cultural and global perspectives Lifelong learning
10	Communication	Effectively communicate the process, findings, and implications of health services research through multiple modalities with stakeholders	Proposal development Dissemination Communication skills Marketing and persuasion techniques Writing skills Writing for scientific journals Cultural sensitivity Cross-cultural and global perspectives
11	Knowledge transfer	Knowledge translation to policy and practice	Evidence based practice Evidence based policy Human factors research Health marketing Implementation science Translational research

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