Ellen McIntyre, PHC RIS
Given that primary health care is the part of the health system Australians use most often, practice-based research networks (PBRN) provide a model where general practices form the ‘laboratories' wherein research is undertaken and utilised. PBRNs have been established for a variety of reasons ranging from collecting epidemiological data, to building a research culture in general practice, to undertaking research projects to improve primary health care.
PBRNs in general include:
- a director and staff to coordinate the PBRN (often located at a university)
- a news-sharing facility eg. newsletter and website
- a membership database comprising contact details and interests of the members
- meetings
- training and support
- an agreed process to decide what the PBRN will do.
The process used to decide what the PBRN will do can vary from a top-down approach where the research agenda is set by an advisory committee to a bottom-up approach where the primary health care practitioners initiate their own research based on their needs and their practice.
Too much top-down may stifle innovation (but may increase outputs) while too much bottom-up may result in a myriad of projects which engages people, while requiring a lot of support with little output at first.
Challenges in establishing and maintaining a PBRN include acquiring funding and ensuring protected time. Funding to support the PBRN infrastructure is more difficult to acquire than funding to do the actual research.
The PHCRED Strategy has been able to support infrastructure costs to some extent as well as providing protected time for practitioners to do research. Several PBRNs, supported in some way through the PHCRED Strategy, are now operating around the country (see
PHCRED supported PBRNs link). Some are now sufficiently established to have the capacity to undertake large-scale projects.
Maybe one day Australia will have a national PBRN. We still have a way to go.
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