Translational Research: A Concept Emerged from Health Sciences and Exportable to Education Sciences

Research Article

Ann Transl Med Epidemiol. 2014;1(1): 1004.

Translational Research: A Concept Emerged from Health Sciences and Exportable to Education Sciences

Aymerich M1,2*, Rodriguez-Jareño MC2,3, Castells X2, Carrion C2, Zamora A2,4 and Capellá D2

1Department of Health Sciences, Open University of Catalonia, Spain

2Department of Medical Sciences, University of Girona, Spain

3Prevention Service, Integrated Health Services Baix Empordà, Spain

4Department of Internal Medicine, Blanes Hospital, Spain

*Corresponding author: Aymerich M, Department of Health Sciences, Open University of Catalonia, Av. Tibidabo 39-43, 08035 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Received: October 16, 2014; Accepted: November 14, 2014; Published: November 15, 2014

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to analyze the concept and evolution of translational research in order to explore if it can be used in fields other than health sciences such as higher education.

A mini review was conducted using Medline as a main source for identifying papers. We selected papers that appeared to be relevant according to our objective. Data extraction of these papers was made by summarizing documents using short textual descriptions.

Search results yielded 1186 papers, 28 of which were finally selected for the mini review.

The main aim of translational research is bridging the “know – do” gap. Several multiphase models have been identified. The first described model had two phases (T1, T2) but there are models with three (T1-T3) or four phases (T1- T4). However, regardless of the model used, three main gaps exist that can be placed in the knowledge chain underpinning translational research.

Translational research could be seen as a bidirectional bridge connecting the laboratory to practice either in health or in education. Its interdisciplinary “back and forth” ultimately contributes to improved health or education outcomes. This improvement can be achieved if the three gaps of the knowledge chain are overcome. Namely, these gaps are located: (1) between the discovery of new knowledge and dissemination to potential users of that knowledge; (2) between knowledge dissemination to potential users and its routine application to health or education practice; and (3) between clinical or educational practice and improvement of health or education outcomes.

Keywords: Translational research; Medical education; Education sciences

Introduction

Translational research is becoming one of the most relevant topics in health sciences research of the beginning of this century. Good evidence of this is the appearance of several journals totally devoted to the subject, Annals of Translational Medicine & Epidemiology as a nice example. At this point, now may be the right time to explore the possibility of exporting the concept of translational research to other scientific fields such as education. This idea came to our minds as researchers of the Translational Medicine and Decision Science Lab (founded in 2009) and at the same time professors at the School of Medicine (founded in 2008) at the University of Girona, where problem-based learning is the main strategy used on the curriculum of medical degree program.

The need for health research to ensure that new treatments and research knowledge actually reach the patients or populations for whom they are intended is also the need for medical education research [1]. That is, to ensure that new knowledge from research and teaching innovations actually reach the medical students for whom they are intended. Moreover, if this is true for medical education, it could also be true for higher education in general or even for education as a whole. Since the latter is not our field of expertise we decided to focus our thoughts on higher education, bearing in mind, however, that it may be also applicable to education in general.

Thus, the objective of this paper was to analyze the concept and evolution of translational research in order to explore if it can be used in fields other than health sciences such as higher education.

Methods

A mini review was conducted where the MedLine search strategy was as follows: “translational science” [ti] OR “translational medicine” [ti] OR “translational research” [ti]. Since our objective was focused on the origin and evolution of the concept of translational research rather than on the findings obtained by applying “translation” methods, we decided to restrict the search strategy to terms shown at the title, as the most efficient way of identifying relevant papers. No filters by publication year or language were added but we did add filters regarding availability of abstract and electronic full text. The abstract was necessary for the screening of retrieved papers. The availability of electronic full text was required for the sake of efficiently obtaining documents.

Additional papers were identified by searching “translational research in education” at Google Scholar and also by reference chaining, that is, searching the reference list of retrieved articles as well as automatically recommended papers by search engines when looking for the articles in some repositories such as Science Direct.

We screened search results looking for studies clearly focused on translational research as a discipline based on their title and, if needed, abstract. We then selected papers that appeared to be relevant according to our objective. Data extraction of selected papers was made by summarizing documents using short textual descriptions [2].

Results and Discussion

Search results yielded 1186 papers (Figure 1) of which 28 finally met our inclusion criteria. A total of 1124 references were excluded after reading the title (n = 1016) or the abstract (n = 108), leaving 62 potentially relevant citations identified whose full-text was retrieved and screened for eligibility. Then, a further 34 papers were excluded for not being relevant analyzing the concept and evolution of translational research. Thus, we excluded those that did not address the definition, development or models of translational research and those that despite mentioning it, focused mainly on other aspects such as impact indicators, bibliometric filters, researcher training or research best practices, among others. Other papers were also excluded for being only focused on specific research problems of some areas such as cancer, orthopedics, biotechnology, drug discovery or clinical trials. As a result, 28 documents were finally selected for the mini review.