Different roads, same destination: launching regional training centres.

The four Regional Training Centres (RTCs) founded by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research have used their regional context and resources to develop an innovative approach to reach their common goal of increasing capacity in applied health and nursing services research in Canada. As this overview explains, experiential learning features prominently in all four RTCs with the involvement of healthcare decision-makers and organizations. An interdisciplinary conceptual and methodological approach has been emphasized, resulting in both a regional and a national network of faculty, researchers, healthcare decision-makers and graduate students who are committed to the field of applied health and nursing services research. Faculty, decision-makers and students have gained a deeper understanding of how to achieve knowledge translation and exchange within the context of applied health and nursing services research to promote evidence-informed decision-making.