Ellen McIntyre & Amy McKay, PHC RIS
The Research Capacity Building Initiative (RCBI) was established in 2000 to support University Departments of General Practice and Rural Health to provide training and support in primary health care research, particularly among local practitioners.
Since 2006, PHC RIS has been collecting the following data from the annual reports that were submitted to the Department of Health and Ageing.
In 2007, annual reports from 25 (24 in 2006) university departments of general practice and rural health were summarised. The following fast facts provide a snapshot of what happened in 2007 (compared to 2006).
Summary data
307 (265 in 2006) researchers were supported by RCBI:
- 101 (108) at pre Masters level
- 58 (47) at Masters level
- 32 (20) at PhD level
- 11 (13) at post doctoral level
- 93 (56) at other levels
- 5 (21) unknown.
Funding support was provided at three main levels:
- full support for 147 (135) researchers
- most support for 40 (26) researchers
- some support for 70 (63) researchers
- in kind support only for 4 (22) researchers
- unknown support for 46 (19) researchers
- Researcher Development Fellowships were awarded to 48 (67) researchers.
117 (133 in 2006) external grant applications were made by RCBI staff and RCBI supported researchers. There was a 3% increase in the success rate:
- 64 (66) were successful (70% in 2007 vs 67% in 2006)
- 28 (32) were unsuccessful (30% vs 33%)
- The rest were in progress or their status was unknown.
146 (116 in 2006) peer review papers were published in 61 (49) journals, the most common journals being:
- Australian Family Physician (n=38)
- Australian Journal of Rural Health (n=14)
- Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal (n=7)
- Medical Journal of Australia (n=6)
- Rural Remote Health (n=5).
Thirty seven papers were published in journals with impact factors ranging from 0.933 (Canadian Family Physician) to 9.723 (British Medical Journal).
Researchers gave 322 (326 in 2006) presentations at conferences and other events:
- 181 (243) oral presentations
- 63 (44) poster presentations
- 12 (10) conference workshops
- 2 (29) type unknown
- 36 (21) presentations were made at international conferences
- 141 (121) presentations were made at national conferences
- 15 (9) were invited presentations – 2 (4) at national conferences and 13 (5) at state conferences.
The extensive collaborations with organisations such as the Divisions of General Practice, Area Health Services, Aboriginal Health Services, State Health Departments as well as other universities and Australian Government Departments have ensured that not only is PHCRED becoming well known to these organisations, but PHCRED is also well positioned to ensure that primary health care is becoming more evidence based.
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