The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is pleased to see primary healthcare research in the spotlight following the release of the Medical Journal of Australia’s (MJA) July supplement.
The online supplement released yesterday titled Building a Culture of Co-creation in Research features eleven manuscripts and is published by the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute’s (APHCRI) Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) in Primary Health Care.
RACGP President, Dr Liz Marles said the RACGP has been working with the CRE for a number of years and is proud to see primary healthcare research gaining increased exposure amongst the medical community.
“The RACGP is a staunch advocate for primary healthcare research and its important role in improving the quality of care for Australian patients.
“We know that a strong primary healthcare sector results in positive health outcomes for patients at a lower economic cost and research into this vital pillar of the healthcare system is more critical than ever.
“General practice research is indispensable to improving the quality of care for Australian patients and ensuring a clinically and cost effective service,” said Dr Marles.
The research detailed in the supplement’s A systematic review of the challenges to implementation of the patient-centred medical home: lessons for Australia further supports the RACGP’s concept of the patient-centered medical home and its implementation within an Australian context.
“The medical home model is known as a positive advancement in primary care delivery and delivering better health outcomes for patients at a lower economic cost to government.
“The CRE’s focus on the medical home concept supported by the development of improvement tools for general practice adds further weight to the benefits of implementing a medical home concept in Australia,” said Dr Marles.
The article, Co-creating value in research: stakeholders' perspectives, details early results of a specific approach to implementation research, based on an approach that closes the evidence-practice gap by involving end users in every step of the research process.
The RACGP is a partner organisation to the CRE’s Primary Health Care Microsystems Research Partner Organisations, providing more formal opportunities to engage with the research team and representing the end-users of CRE’s research.
“By partnering with the CRE, the RACGP has been able to identify new opportunities and added credibility to the quality frameworks that already exist.
“By using this approach there is a positive impact on research participants and ensures the research is relevant and functional for use by medical practitioners within their daily work,” said Dr Marles.
The RACGP firmly believes in the value general practice research contributes to Australian GPs being able to deliver the highest level of quality healthcare. The RACGP Foundation was established to support GPs, general practice registrar and students undertaking research in general practice with the goal of improving the health and wellbeing of all Australians.