Volume 202 - Issue 9
Enabling the success of academic health science centres in Australia: where is the leadership?
Authors: Stephen Allison, Tarun Bastiampillai and Bernhard T Baune
Med J Aust 2015; 202 (9): 475. || doi: 10.5694/mja15.00099
Published online: 18 May 2015
Published online: 18 May 2015
Loss of clinical academic leadership will be to the detriment of patient care in Australia
To the Editor: In a recent perspective in the Journal, Theile and colleagues called for national leadership in the creation of academic health science centres (AHSCs) through partnerships and collaborations that better link Australian universities, research institutes and health services.1 The mission of one of the most influential AHSCs in the world, the Mayo Clinic, is to “provide the best care to every patient every day through integrated clinical practice, education and research”.2
In Australia, it may be increasingly difficult for AHSCs to reach this ultimate goal as we are losing the clinical academics who integrate the tripartite mission of research, teaching and improving patient care within the public health system. In the United States, clinical academics still lead the best performing AHSCs as chief executives and department heads.3 Here, recruitment in academic medicine is declining,4 the clinical research workforce is ageing,5 and senior academics and mentors are retiring. This loss of clinical academic leadership will be to the detriment of patient care in Australia's health system.
At times of budgetary restraint, clinical research can be viewed as a non-essential expense by the health system. During periods of financial restraint, hospitals do not have the funds to support the cost of infrastructure and protected time for clinical researchers.5 In reality, funding young clinical researchers is an important contribution to the ongoing improvement of patient care. We hope that the emergence of the AHSCs will provide new impetus to better fund applied clinical research and translational science throughout Australia's public health system.
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.
References
- Theile DE, Scott IA, Martin JH, Gavrilidis A. Enabling the success of academic health science centres in Australia: where is the leadership? Med J Aust 2014; 201: 636-638. _Ref417993565
- Mayo Clinical Model of Care. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Rochester, Minn: 2002, http://www.mayo.edu/pmts/mc4200-mc4299/mc4270.pdf (accessed Apr 2015).
- Goodall AH. Physician-leaders and hospital performance: Is there an association? Soc Sci Med 2011; 73: 535-539. _Ref417993886
- Henderson S, Porter RJ, Basset D, et al. Why academic psychiatry is endangered. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2015; 49: 9-12. _Ref417993942
- Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Strategic review of health and medical research in Australia — better health through research. Final report. Canberra: DoHA, 2013, http://www.mckeonreview.org.au/ (accessed Apr 2015).