NSW PHC Research Capacity Building Program

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NSW PHC Research Capacity Building Program
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Our Mission

• To increase the capacity for primary health care
  research and to provide leadership in developing
  a research culture in Australian primary health
  care to improve the health of all Australians.
• To achieve our mission we provide accessible,
  relevant and quality education, establish
  networks to support researchers, and build upon
  existing research collaborations and capacity in
  primary health care.

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Goal
Principles

• To build capacity for the practice and uptake of
  primary health care research and evaluation in
  NSW.

• Available equitably to all communities in NSW
• Based on a multidisciplinary approach
• Sustainable in the long term
• Linked to the health needs of the NSW population

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Objectives

• Develop the research skills of PHC providers.
• Establish structures to support research in PHC.
• Encourage and support the transfer of research
  findings into practice.
• Develop organisational capacity and culture in
  PHC to support research in an ongoing way.
• Link the development of research capacity with
  the broader PHC and research agenda.
• Explore and develop opportunities for additional
  funding for research and capacity building in
  PHC.

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Outcomes

• Critical problems in primary health care which
  need to be researched / evaluated are identified.
• Research occurs in PHC settings as relevant.
• PHC practitioners, organisations, research
  students academics are engaged in research.
• Research of high quality is completed and
  disseminated.
• PHC practitioners, organisations, research
  students and academics use the results of this
  and other research.

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Partners

• Departments of GP and Rural Health _at_ ANU,
  Newcastle, New South Wales Sydney
• Alliance of NSW Divisions
• Royal Australian College of GPs
• Allied Health
• Consumers
• NSW Health
• State Office of DoHA

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Target groups

• General practitioners (incl. GP registrars)
• Divisions of General Practice
• Community health
• Allied health
• Health promotion professionals
• Academics
• Students

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Program Structure

• Implementation of a set of common broad
  objectives and strategies across the state.
• These are adapted implemented locally where
  Departments have existing links.
• This approach ensures consistent equitable
  dissemination of resources across the state.
• An Advisory Committee oversees the development of
  the Program.

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Advisory Committee

• Program guided by a state Advisory Structure
• Members include
• Seven University partners - ANU, Depts of Rural
  Health GP at USyd, Depts of Rural Health GP
  at Newcastle, UNSW
• Alliance of NSW Divisions
• NSW Health
• RACGP
• State Office, DoHA
• Allied health and consumer representation in the
  past

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Structure
NSW PHC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Dept Rural Health - Nth Rivers
Dept Rural Health, Tamworth
Six common state wide objectives
Dept of GP, ANU
SPHCM, UNSW
Guide capacity building activities at.
Discipline of GP, USyd
Dept Rural Health - Broken Hill
Discipline of GP, Newcastle
Supports and feeds into regional capacity
building activities at.
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Regional Programs
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Capacity Building Process

• Research capacity built in and manifested
  through
• identification of critical problems
• doing research to address them
• engagement of target groups to do research
• completion and dissemination of high quality
  research
• use of research in primary care and general
  practice

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State-wide Activities

• Coordinating resource development and
  dissemination
• Forming partnerships with other relevant PHC
  organisations (SBOs, NSW Health)
• Conducting relevant workshops conferences
• Supporting University departments in their
  regional capacity building activities
• Brokering collaborative research across the
  Program
• Exploring opportunities for additional funding

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University Activities

• Multi-disciplinary education about research
  evaluation
• Establishing regional PHC research networks
• Mentoring PHC providers and organisations (eg.
  Divisions of General Practice)
• Consulting with relevant stakeholders about
  research priorities
• Facilitating partnerships across PHC to conduct
  collaborative research

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Why it works

• Trust
• Shared vision common goals / objectives
• Established relationships
• State coordination structure
• Bottom up, regionally focused approach
• State and Commonwealth representation

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Benefits

• Limit duplication of effort and resources
• Coordinated approach
• Regional focus more relevance
• Keeping in the loop
• Sharing information and resources

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Challenges

• Selling the program and making it relevant across
  disciplines
• Engagement with the diversity of the PHC sector
• Fostering sustainable and realistic research
  collaborations
• Sharing and developing joint resources
  (intellectual property)

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Highlights

• Held 2 state conferences and 4 regional ones
  disseminating the research of PHC professionals
  from a range of sectors. In addition, NSW PHC
  successfully ran the 2003 AAAGP Research Forum -
  attended by 85 general practice academics.
• Developed and successfully administered the 1st
  graduate certificate course in population health
  research methods in NSW.
• Lead innovation in models of training PHC
  professionals in evidence based practice
• Basic Advanced Courses in Critical Thinking
  (USyd)

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Highlights

• Numerous workshops conducted on basic research
  and evaluation topics
• At least 50 workshops conducted each year
• With combined total participants of up to 350
• Eight research networks across the state
• EARIG, PHReNet, RuralNet, HearNet
• Combined membership in excess of 450 PHC
  professionals across NSW
• Number of research projects and ideas generated
• Mental health status of Chinese immigrant
  patients in general practice
• Kava use in the Macarthur region
• Tai Chi for diabetes management