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Building research capacity in Australian departments of general practice and rural health: a document review of annual reports

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2007

Ellen McIntyre ,
Deborah Saltman ,
Vanessa Traynor ,
Jane Sims ,
Jeffrey Richards  and
Joanne Dollard
Ellen McIntyre
Affiliation:
Associate Professor and Manager, Primary Health Care Research and Information Service, Department of General Practice, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
Deborah Saltman
Affiliation:
Professor, Discipline of General Practice, PHCRED Co-ordinator, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Vanessa Traynor
Affiliation:
Program Coordinator, PHCRED Program, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Jane Sims
Affiliation:
School of Physiotherapy, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Jeffrey Richards
Affiliation:
Department of General Practice, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
Deceased
Joanne Dollard
Affiliation:
Discipline of General Practice, University of Adelaide, South Australia
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Abstract

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Aim: To describe the scope and nature of research capacity building activity within academic departments of general practice and rural health in Australia. Method: Document review of Annual Reports for the years 2000 and 2003 of 17 university departments of general practice and rural health, funded through the Research Capacity Building Initiative (RCBI) of the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development (PHCRED) Strategy. Results: The review indicated that from 2000 to 2003, departments increased their activities in all areas of research capacity building activities. Mentoring and/or supervision other than higher degree students increased from 14 in 2000 to 266 in 2003. Twenty-two research networks involving over 1377 participants were operating in 2003. All departments were involved in collaborations either as part of grant applications, research projects or educational activities. Over 3630 people participated in 189 educational activities in 2003 compared to over 624 people attending 103 activities in 2000. Compared to $10.98 million in 2000, departments had obtained more than $15.6 million for research projects in 2003. While there were more peer reviewed papers published in 2000 (n = 178) compared to 2003 (n = 130), these 17 departments gave 187 conference presen-tations. Conclusions: This review shows that the RCBI has contributed towards a considerable increase in research activities in these university departments of general practice and rural health. This has provided a major boost to primary health care research in Australia. These activities would have been unlikely to occur without the support and assistance of the PHCRED Strategy. Clearly, the full impact of the RCBI will take some time to evolve.

Keywords

academic general practiceprimary health careresearch capacity buildingresearch effortresearch networks
Type
Development
Information
Primary Health Care Research & Development , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 3 - 11
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press