Primary care research
The Lancet, Volume 384, Issue 9955, Pages 1671 - 1672, 8 November
2014
Michael Kidd , Garth Manning , Amanda Howe , Waris Qidwai, John W Beasley, Chris van Weel
In his Comment (Sept 20, 2014)1 about primary care research,
Richard Horton described exciting new developments in Sweden. We applaud
the leadership of Lars Lindholm and would like to raise awareness of
primary health-care research capacity building on a broader scale
because some important developments since the family medicine research
meeting 2 hosted by WONCA (World Organization of Family Doctors) might
have been missed.
The first reassurance comes from the Kingston Conference2
itself that resulted in an extensive review of the priorities of primary
health-care research and recommendations to build the research capacity
to approach these priorities, and which has served as a template for
WONCA and its member organisations in 131 nations to advocate and
support research in primary care in all regions of the world. The WONCA
guidebook3 has an excellent section on the way each nation can support
primary care research. WONCA has a thriving Working Party on Research
and active regional groups, including the South Asia Primary Care
Research Network, the North America Primary Care Research Group, and the
European GP Research Network, which hold regular workshops to support
and encourage those working in family practice to take part in primary
care research. WONCA has also supported the Brisbane Initiative for
International Leadership, which holds yearly meetings in Oxford, UK.4
One of the recommendations of the Kingston Conference2 was the
establishment of multidisciplinary research training programmes. In
addition to Sweden, these initiatives have since been developed in
Scotland, England, The Netherlands, and USA, each resulting in thriving
primary health-care research outputs.5, 6 The Netherlands School of
Primary Care Research, for example, produced more than 100 PhD theses in
2013. Family doctors around the world take research seriously and
promote and engage in research in primary care. WONCA regional and
special interest conferences every year provide evidence of these
efforts for all to see, and for all to critically appraise.
Finally, we are sorry that Richard Horton had such a wretched
time in Kingston, Canada, all those years ago.1 Family doctors are held
responsible for many things, but even we cannot be blamed for the
weather.
We declare no competing interests.
PDF - PrimaryCareResearch
References
1 Horton R. Offline: How to save primary care research. Lancet
2014; 384: 1082. Full Text | PDF(193KB) | CrossRef | PubMed
2 Improving health globally and the need for primary care
research: report of the WONCA Kingston conference. Ann Fam Med2004; 2
(suppl 2): S1-64. CrossRef | PubMed
3 In: Kidd M, ed. The contribution of family medicine to improving health systems. London: Radcliffe Publishing, 2013.
4 Magin PJ, Furler JS, van Driel ML. The Brisbane International
initiative: fostering leadership and international collaboration in
primary care research. Med J Aust 2008; 189: 100-102. PubMed
5 Glanville J, Kendrick T, McNally R, Campbell J, Hobbs FD.
Research output on primary care in Australia, Canada, Germany, the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States: bibliometric
analysis. BMJ 2011; 342: d1028. CrossRef | PubMed
6 Beasley JW, Karsh BT. What can we learn from effective
collaboration in primary care research? One success story. Prim Health
Care Res Dev 2010; 11: 203-205. PubMed
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