[Health Services Research Facilities at German Universities]

So far, there is a lack of knowledge about the situation of health services research at German universities. The aim of the present study is to provide data about health services research facilities and teaching activity in German universities.

An online survey of German university lecturers in the field of health services research was conducted in 2017. The semi-standardized survey contained 25 factual questions. The quantitative responses were analyzed descriptively using IBM SPSS Statistics 24. The open questions were analyzed by content analysis.

N=42 lecturers took part in the survey (response rate 97.6%). Health services research methods are subject to human medicine as well as health science programs. Specific programs in health services research were identified at 3 locations. The doctoral and postdoctoral opportunities in the field of health services research are heterogeneous. In the field of research methods, quantitative methods dominate, in particular patient-reported outcome research with primary data. The most frequently mentioned interdisciplinary cooperation is with biometry/epidemiology and health economics.

There is a need for further training for health services researchers in terms of specific terminology, framework models, data sources, evaluation methods, data protection aspects, and health policy aspects. In addition to the training of the health services researchers, it is important to improve the doctoral and habilitation opportunities in the field of health services research in order to encourage and support young scientists in health services research.