People to people engagement |
PHC RIS aims to help our stakeholders link up with researchers and decision-makers, to better understand each other's goals and professional cultures, and to influence each other's work.
PHC Research Conference
Supporting PHCRED and other events
International & national links
ROAR
PHC RIS facilitates opportunities for forging new partnerships and promoting the use of research based evidence in decision-making through our comprehensive website, networking opportunities, analysis and reporting resources. Our applied research on knowledge transfer and exchange seek to expand and enhance these processes.
The PHC Research Conference represents a significant networking opportunity and is a knowledge brokering event on a large scale, bringing together decision-makers, researchers and other stakeholders to establish and maintain relationships around topics of mutual interest.
The theme for the 2010 PHC Research Conference was Primary health care research and health reform: Improving care. With over 380 delegates attending from all Australian states, as well as visitors from overseas, the Conference provided a forum for the presentation of research relevant to Australian primary health care and health reform.
APHCRI is also a proud sponsor of the Primary Health Care Research Conference, which is superbly coordinated by PHC RIS.
Robert Wells, Director, APHCRI
Keynote speaker, Associate Professor Noel Hayman, Clinical Director of the Inala Indigenous Health Service engaged the audience by highlighting how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Queensland (QLD) have better access to primary health care services, thanks to the government funded Inala Indigenous Health Authority (IIHA). Noel Hayman's research has contributed to a pledge by the QLD State government to commit funding to a Centre of Research Excellence in Indigenous Primary Health Care, with Queensland Health providing $7 million toward the building and $2 million toward staffing the Centre.
I think this is the best event I have ever attended (that's within my 20 year career as an allied health practitioner). Conference delegate
Thanks so much for a wonderful conference. This is my sixth time, I have gone from a novice researcher to feeling part of the PHC research family; it is the highlight of my working year. Conference delegate
Dr Stephen Campbell, Senior Research Fellow at University of Manchester, England spoke about the highlights and potential pitfalls of introducing a pay-for-performance scheme in Australia; an initiative that was introduced by the UK government in 2004 for general practices to generate revenue.
I particularly enjoyed the session with Stephen Campbell, for an international speaker he had an excellent grasp on the current Australian primary care setting. And he was able to apply the UK experience to Australia in a succinct and easy to follow manner. Conference delegate
The Conference evaluation (which received a 57% response rate) indicated that most respondents (90%) felt the Conference increased (to a great or moderate extent) their knowledge and understanding of the scope and nature of current research, evaluation and development activities.
Planning for the 2011 PHC Research Conference began in late 2010 and will be held in Brisbane 13‑15 July 2011 with the theme Inspirations, collaborations, solutions. Visit <www.phcris.org.au/conference> for more information about the 2011 Conference or to view abstracts and presentations from previous years.
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SUPPORTING PHCRED AND OTHER EVENTS
PHC RIS continually demonstrates its commitment to PHCRED through PHC RIS infonet, ROAR, PHCRED webpages, the PHC Research Conference, promoting PHCRED events, publications and vacancies through PHC RIS eBulletin and through analysing the Research Capacity Building Initiative (RCBI) annual reports (click here for more on RCBI annual reports).
 PHCRED and PHC RIS
The Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development (PHCRED) Strategy is a nationwide research program funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and launched in 2000.
The Strategy aims to improve Australia's capacity to produce high quality primary health care research that provides an evidence base to support decision making in the primary health care sector.
PHC RIS has been linked with the PHCRED Strategy since 2001 and has supported the Strategy through its role in information management and knowledge exchange between its key stakeholders.
More information about the PHCRED Strategy and the support PHC RIS provides to it is available from <www.phcris.org.au/phcred>
PHCRED conferences & workshops
PHC RIS staff are routinely invited to attend annual PHCRED conferences and often invited to participate in workshops or give presentations. Conference reports are then written (sometimes guest-authored) and published in the subsequent issue of PHC RIS infonet, providingreviews and insightsinto the theme and outcomesfor those who were unable to attend. In 2010, PHC RIS staff attended the following events
Details of 2011 PHCRED conferences are available from the PHC RIS website at <www.phcris.org.au/eventsdiary/>
PHCRED policy events
Primary Health Care Policy and Research - State and Federal Contexts
PHC RIS attended and presented at a PHCRED Tri-State Policy Forum that was held in Adelaide on 12 May 2010. Other key speakers represented the National Preventative Health Task Force, SA Health, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and Health Consumers Alliance. The Forum focused on the state and federal contexts for primary health care research. (See June issue of PHC RIS infonet)
Queensland PHCRED Annual Research Informing Policy Forum
PHC RIS attended a Queensland PHCRED Policy Forum 2 March 2010. Translating current research into policy was the central theme and delegates "focused on building greater inter-sectoral approaches for improving the health and wellbeing of Queenslanders". (Excerpt from April PHC RIS infonet article entitled, Smart health system reform: using evaluation to improve systems and services for consumers).
At this Forum, Vicki Murphy, a keynote speaker from the Department of Health and Ageing, highlighted the key principles of health reform stating that "the current government reform agenda was the greatest scale initiative since the inception of Medicare". Other speakers shared their views on how they anticipated the reform would impact on the primary health care sector. Opportunities for how researchers should present their evidence - by considering the political timing of its release and by acknowledging "the traction that may emerge from collaborating across sectors" - were also highlighted.
PHCRED Phase 3 consultation meetings
PHC RIS organised a series of eight meetings in all states during October. At these meetings the Department of Health and Ageing and Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APHCRI) presented further plans for the PHCRED Strategy Phase 3. Invitations were sent to RCBI staff and other researchers and research users to inform and consult them about information regarding Phase 3 arrangements.
Divisions' events
GPSA Forum
PHC RIS was invited to give a presentation on the Divisions Online Reporting System at a General Practice South Australia Forum event in October 2010. It gave PHC RIS staff an opportunity to engage with the Divisions network in South Australia, to hear how our services have benefitted them and how they could be further improved.
AGPN Forum
The Australian General Practice Network (AGPN) is the national peak representative body for Divisions. Each year, AGPN holds a Forum to enhance participants' knowledge of and contribution to the health reform agenda.
PHC RIS had the opportunity to attend the 2010 Forum (see December PHC RIS infonet issue entitled, Connecting care – Big Ideas, Local solutions), and to network with delegates. Our booth received lots of attention. Delegates who approached the booth were interested in Divisions data, including the new charting feature as well as the many ways we display data for easy use.
Nursing in General Practice (NiGP) Forum
Assoc Professor Libby Kalucy, Director of PHC RIS (until July 2010) attended the annual Network nurses event, Nursing in General Practice (NiGP) Forum in Melbourne in February 2010. Presentations were given by representatives of the Australian Health Workforce Institute, and the National Nursing Registration Board. Libby had the opportunity to present 'a practical approach to report writing, encouraging nurses to understand the importance of their reports within the health care system' (excerpt from June issue of PHC RIS infonet, Conference report written by Connie Ryan, AGPN).
AGPN eHealth Conference
Sandy Muecke, Research Fellow at PHC RIS, attended the AGPN eHealth Conference in June 2010. The Conference outlined the roll-out plan for eHealth – the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record – due by 2012, and highlighted the "diverse range of successful and novel electronic systems and programs that have been implemented by Divisions and individual general practices to suit their specific small-area population health needs." (See August issue of PHC RIS infonet entitled, Connecting the Health Care Sector).
Collaborative stakeholder event
Rural & Remote Health Scientific Symposium
Ellen McIntyre, PHC RIS Director (from July 2010) was part of the planning team for the 2nd Rural & Remote Health Scientific Symposium, which was convened by the National Rural Health Alliance in June 2010 and Ellen, Libby Kalucy and Sandy Muecke attended from PHC RIS.
The Symposium reflected how the rural and remote health (RRH) research members of the Symposium reached general agreement about the way forward for their sector over the next five years. The Symposium was informed of "research in critical areas such as the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, mental health in remote areas, the capacity of eHealth to improve services and outcomes, creative models of care, and the importance of cohort studies – including those relating to complex interventions", and considered how RRH researchers could contribute to the health reform.
The full report is available from the National Rural Health Alliance website. The conference report was published in the August 2010 issue of PHC RIS infonet entitled, Progressing rural and remote health research.
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INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL LINKS
PHC RIS is developing its links with international and national primary health care organisations through its collaborative project on knowledge exchange with Professor John Lavis, Director of the McMaster Health Forum in Canada, our affiliation with the European Forum for Primary Care and by writing articles for stakeholder newsletters.
 Canada: Visit by Professor John Lavis
In May 2010, PHC RIS organised a visit by Canadian Professor John Lavis, a leading researcher in knowledge transfer and exchange and the politics of health systems, to advise on knowledge brokering and other activities relevant to supporting the use of research in policy. The visit included a Masterclass in Canberra with Department of Health and Ageing policy advisors, a seminar in Adelaide, and meetings with PHC RIS and APHCRI staff in which Professor Lavis provided expert advice on the use of the SUPPORT Tools to assist evidence informed policy making in primary health care. More information on Professor Lavis' visit is availabe from the PHC RIS infonet article Systematic and transparent use of research in policy which includes a link to the video recording of his seminar in Adelaide.
Professor Lavis said of his visit to Adelaide:
My visit here…provides an opportunity to develop a collaborative research project between Flinders and McMaster Universities in which we will evaluate the success of the SUPPORT Tools…[This will] formalise a professional relationship between Canadian and Australian researchers, and I am grateful to PHC RIS for facilitating this occasion.
During his visit John developed a collaborative project with PHC RIS to assist with adapting the tools and processes used by the McMaster Health Forum to an Australian situation.
In particular, PHC RIS has revised its procedures for conducting literature reviews and synthesising research into reports, such as Rapid Responses and RESEARCH ROUNDups, by developing a 'menu', which describes the scope of a review in terms of the degree of detail, coverage, explanatory text and synthesis according to the available timeframe for completion.
Short timeframes will limit responses to a simple list of resources, whereas a long timeframe will allow a more comprehensive search, an indication of the quality of available evidence and a user-friendly summary of findings.
Using an iterative approach, PHC RIS will examine how useful the menu was in producing the current round of Rapid Responses and make changes as needed.
Europe
We have an associate membership with the European Forum for Primary Care with whom we share our materials; they in turn promote us in their news flash <www.euprimarycare.org>.
Canada
The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF), Chair on Knowledge Transfer and Innovation, highlights topical items from our PHC RIS eBulletin in their e-newsletter <http://kuuc.chair.ulaval.ca/english/master.php?url=bulletin.php>. PHC RIS reciprocates this by including relevant items in ours.
UK
In 2010, the (UK) Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC) accepted and published an article by PHC RIS entitled, Knowledge brokering at PHC RIS in its summer (June) issue (p18). This was reciprocated in August when Peter Murchie from the SAPC contributed an article to PHC RIS infonet entitled, News from The Society for Academic Primary Care.
Scotland
The 2010 PHC Research Conference was reported on by conference attendee Dr Colin McCowan from the Scottish School of Primary Care (SSPC) in the Scottish School of Primary Care - E Newsletter <www.sspc.ac.uk/enewsletter/cm_dar.htm> and again, this was reciprocated in the August issue of PHC RIS infonet with an article entitled, Australia and Scotland - working together.
National
Significant coverage was given to the PHC Research Conference in the August 2010 issue of Australian Association for Academic Primary Care (AAAPC) newsletter and included an article from PHC RIS about the benefits of adding your profile to ROAR. The AAAPC featured another article in the December issue about the 2011 PHC Research Conference.
PHC RIS infonet has afforded PHC RIS the opportunity to extend its collaborative arm with the following national organisations:
December issue
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet
The Sax Institute
Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute |
June issue
National Rural Health Alliance
The Lowitja Institute
The Australian Practice Nurses Association
International Centre for Allied Health Evidence (iCAHE)
Australian General Practice Network |
October issue
The Improvement Foundation (Australia)
Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine
Research Australia |
April issue
Australian General Practice Network
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia |
August issue
National Institute of Clinical Studies
Australian General Practice Network
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February issue
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care |
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The Roadmap Of Australian primary health care Research (ROAR) 'maps' on-line research for researchers, policy advisors, funding bodies and practitioners to raise awareness of current and recently completed research, reduce duplication of effort and facilitate the development of collaborative research partnerships.
ROAR enables users to view information by:
- Research project - each record contains details about current or recently completed primary health care research by: project title, description, researcher/s, organisation and publications and presentations arising from the project
- Researcher profiles – includes information about people involved in primary health care research, their research interests, qualifications and research activities and includes contact details
- Research Organisations – gives details of research organisations across Australia, including: research centres, universities, academic departments of general practice, rural health, public health, population health, and schools of nursing
- Funding opportunities – highlights scholarships, fellowships, and grants for primary health care research.
Being part of the ROAR network helps researchers identify mentors, enables policy-makers to identify and contact them about their research and is accessible on-line, anywhere, anytime.
Dr Merridy Malin from the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia knows the benefit of having her ROAR profile on-line. She is among the top 10 most searched ROAR profiles of 2010. This 'popularity' arose from her attendance at the 2010 PHC Research Conference, at which she submitted a poster entitled, Gomeroi gaaynggal - research skill building and empowerment of Aboriginal staff.
It's great to know my ROAR profile is of interest to other researchers who are working in a similar field. The real advantage of ROAR is that researchers like me – who often work out of hours – can forge new networks any time of day and night, by simply clicking on the email link on their profile page.
Individuals with ROAR accounts can update their own ROAR profile by requesting a my PHC RIS account.
my PHC RIS allows users to create, edit and manage their own ROAR data. Accounts need to be requested on-line from the my PHC RIS homepage.
In 2010 ROAR had over 3 300 researcher (individual) profiles, 850 new ROAR profiles were added and the ROAR database (which includes individual profiles, organisations, funding and projects) was visited by 50 445 people. ROAR is keyword searchable, and accessible from <www.phcris.org.au/roar>.
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