Effective links

PHC RIS and ADGP continued this collaborative research project in 2005, completing analysis and interpretation of the interviews conducted in 2004, and preparing a report and summary document.

In summary, the findings showed that:

• effective links between Divisions and universities were the result of a combination of structural factors (opportunity) and process attributes (fair relationships)
• four types of links resulted from interactions between these factors and attributes - effective links, uncertain links, underdeveloped links and ineffective links
• there were a number of key issues to be addressed around putting effective links between Divisions and universities into practice
• relationships were at the heart of effective links and there was an association between the quality of the relationship and the probability of engaging in ongoing interactions that had implications for sustainability of links and for embedding a research and evaluation culture in Divisions
• further research is required to understand links between Divisions and university PHCRED Research Capacity Building Initiatives.

The findings of this project have been widely disseminated. As well as the research report with actionable messages and the two page summary (published in June), the findings of this project were progressed through four interactive workshops with people from research and/or Division sectors at the Vital Links State Forum in May, the GP & PHC Research Conference in July, the Divisions of General Practice Network Forum in November and the NSW PHCRED meeting in December 2005.

Findings were also reported in PHC RIS infonet . In addition we developed a new section 'Effective Links' in the December issue to highlight examples of promising linkage practice in either Divisions or universities. To ensure the findings reach the academic literature, the investigators of this project commenced writing a journal article in December.

The workshop series has led to some recommendations to different groups for further actions to apply the results in policy and practice. PHC RIS and ADGP will develop a plan of action to support ongoing collaboration activities in 2006. One recommendation was to set up a list server to enhance communication between people from both sectors who were interested in university-Division links. Another was to develop a new Division award category for a Division(s)-university partnership.

Posters

One of the applied research projects we conducted during 2004-05 explored how to maximise the effectiveness of posters as dissemination tools. This contributed to our strategy of developing our capacity to measure impact of information in short and long term.

Two articles were accepted for publication by the international journal BMJ Careers. Research posters: the way to display, by Belinda Lowcay and Ellen McIntyre , was published in December 2005 and the second article will be published in January 2006. This project has extended to a program of activity designed to teach our stakeholders how to maximise the effectiveness of dissemination tools such as research posters, power point presentations, and personal presentation skills.

Belinda Lowcay presented practical skill building sessions in this area at a number of conferences including the GP & PHC Research Conference, the Public Health Association of Australia Conference, the Department of General Practice seminar series, and the NSW PHC Research and Evaluation Conference.

PHC RIS staff also developed (or revised) fact sheets related to dissemination. These included: Design and present posters for maximum impact, Oral presentations: preparation and delivery and Power point presentations (to be published in 2006).