Today. February 23, is our annual Primary Care Research Day and I want to highlight the importance of family medicine research and some of the valuable work that is being undertaken in our department.
Please take a few minutes to check out the news about our recent recipients of internal and external research funding in this month’s DFM Monitor. There are some great projects going forward!
If you haven’t been to the CSPC website recently to check out the range of work that is supported, now is a good time. There are six different project portfolios that cover a range of important topics including children and youth, global health, Indigenous health, and community-based research. The EON Practice-Based Research Network and related work leveraging data from electronic health records and the I-CREAte network’s partnerships throughout the community highlight the value and importance of collaborative networks.
I have the privilege of co-leading our provincial primary care research network, INSPIRE-PHC, with Dr. Rick Glazier from the University of Toronto. This large network brings together family medicine and primary care researchers from across Ontario to work together on the key issues we see facing our discipline today. Our work on policy-relevant questions like patient attachment, models of care, virtual care, and equity in the delivery of primary care continues to attract the attention of policy makers and the public (The Globe and Mail, CBC News), and to provide important evidence on where we are headed and possible solutions.
Family physicians need to be involved in identifying the issues we see in our practices and exploring solutions. A solid base of evidence developed by and for family physicians, working together with methodologists and allies from other disciplines, is critical for our future as a profession. The SPOR Canadian Primary Care Research Network — which builds on the foundation established by the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) and the Primary and Integrated Care Health Innovation Networks — recently received CIHR funding. This critically important investment in primary care research networks is a great step forward in building this into our future.
The Queen’s Department of Family Medicine should be proud of the work that went into building and sustaining CPCSSN to allow this next step to come to fruition.
Finally — to all of our CSPC staff and faculty for their ongoing efforts in advancing primary care research here at Queen’s Family Medicine — YOU are the most important part of our research infrastructure. THANK YOU!
Dr. Michael Green
Department Head
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