Knowledge Transfer and Exchange: Review and Synthesis of the Literature

Knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) is as an interactive process involving the interchange of knowledge between research users and researcher producers. Despite many strategies for KTE, it is not clear which ones should be used in which contexts. This article is a review and synthesis of the KTE literature on health care policy. The review examined and summarized KTE’s current evidence base for KTE. It found that about 20 percent of the studies reported on a real-world application of a KTE strategy, and fewer had been formally evaluated. At this time there is an inadequate evidence base for doing “evidence-based” KTE for health policy decision making. Either KTE must be reconceptualized, or strategies must be evaluated more rigorously to produce a richer evidence base for future activity.

Author(s): Craig Mitton; Carol E. Adair; Emily McKenzie; Scott B. Patten; Brenda Waye Perry

Keywords: knowledge transfer; knowledge exchange; health policy

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Volume 85, Issue 4 (pages 729–768)
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0009.2007.00506.x
Published in 2007