Converging Threads
This needs to be quick because I should be out the door, meeting with colleagues, working out what of the whirl of concurrent conference sessions I will be attending. I feel fuzzy from being two hours out of sync with my body clock and I missed my afternoon nap.
But here goes - the Sunday Blog.
I hope your Sunday is unfolding gently and filling you with joy for the week ahead.
Sunday Blog 147 - 4th August 2024
I’m sitting here on the 23rd floor of my Brisbane Hotel, here for the Health Innovation Community conference. It’s only the pre-conference day and already my thoughts are broiling with ideas and inspiration.
Today was all about early career researchers breaking into the digital health space. As one of the consumer advocates attending, I was banging my usual “involve consumers” drum.
In truth, I am very ambivalent about research. About how we measure it. The number of papers cited doesn’t really seem to me to be the key metric to see if what we invest in research is paying off into actual, genuine change for people. And what we research. What makes a perfect topic for a PhD may not be the issue that really needs addressing, from a community perspective. And don’t get me started about how involving consumers in research is so often an afterthought.
The disconnect between health research and health services is a familiar frustration for me as someone that straddles two worlds. My roots and first love are in working with health services and system change. But I recognise research is important to drive improvements. One of today’s speakers, Dr Christopher Longhurst, nailed it for me when he said, “we don’t research what we implement in our health services, and we don’t implement what we research.”
This.
What crept into my thinking as I heard this was an inkling. Maybe I need to become more serious about the tiny bit of research I am currently doing as part of a pilot program at Curtin University? Is this how I get the threads of my life of writing and health advocacy to converge?
Then he shared this quote “No one who loves life can ignore literature and no-one who loves literature can ignore life.” (A quote from Laura Esquivel, author of Like Water for Chocolate. This is from her non-fiction collection of essays, Between Two Fires)
His quote landed directly in my heart. Like a direct message to me, that my love of reading has not been wasted, and my love of advocacy is not in vain.
Let’s see how these two continue to converge…