| The PHCRED Program is an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing which aimed to develop and strengthen research and evaluation capacity in primary health care over 5 years (2000-2005). One aspect of this important initiative concerned University Departments of General Practice and Rural Health which have been funded nationally to find innovative and sustainable ways to increase research and evaluation capacity amongst primary health care provider groups and support groups (consumers), in areas such as general practice, nutrition and dietetics, nursing, indigenous health, midwifery, physiotherapy, mental health and dentistry. |
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The program has recently been extended for an additional four years from 2006 and aims to increase the pool of PHC researchers, conduct policy relevant PHC research and to pursue the uptake of research evidence into policy.
The PHCRED Tri-Statewide Collaboration
Building on the work conducted from 2000, a collaboration was established across South Australia to operationalise and contribute to the PHCRED program. This was extended in 2005 to include The Northern Territory and Northern Victoria. The partnership comprises of: the Departments of General Practice at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University, and the Spencer Gulf Rural Health School in South Australia, the Centre for Rural and Remote Health in Alice Springs (and Darwin) and the Greater Green Triangle University Department of Rural Health in Warrnambool. These PHCRED partners have been working collaboratively on aspects of the PHCRED program.
The Collaboration's main role is the local implementation of the objectives of the 'Research Capacity Building Initiative' (RCBI). For 2006-09, the RCBI objectives, which are linked to the PHC RED goals, are:
| PHC RED Goal |
RCBI Objective |
To increase the pool of researchers in primary Health Care and support the sustainable advancement of research careers
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To increase the pool of primary health care researchers by up-skilling early career researchers, and supporting the advancement of their research careers |
| To Conduct Policy and Practice Relevant Research |
To support early career researchers to undertake more high quality primary health care research and ensure its relevance to policy and practice by aligning it with identified needs and priorities |
| To Disseminate and Facilitate the uptake of Evidence in Policy and Practice |
To disseminate and facilitate the uptake of evidence in policy and practice |
The Tri- Statewide Coordinator of PHCRED Collaboration
A number of the Tri-State partners have hosted the PHC
RED Tri-State program over the years the last being the
Spencer Gulf Rural Health School in 2007. In 2008
responsibility for the Tri-State program will transfer to the
Department of General Practice at the Flinders
University.
Tri-State co-ordinator activity includes ....
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Integrating and synthesising the expertise
available across the collaboration, in order to develop,
coordinate and deliver a comprehensive introductory
short research methods course in PHC for RDP fellows,
primary health post-graduate students, GP registrars,
and RCBI bursary holders across the collaboration.
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Promoting and delivering
capacity building workshops/programs for Divisions of
General Practice staff, primary and allied health
professionals, health policy officers, consumers and
Indigenous and non-Indigenous primary health researchers
across the jurisdiction of the Collaboration. This will
include targeting ‘in-house’ training to practices and
appropriate NGOs.
· Identifying and establishing internet linkages to
appropriate research and evaluation modules/courses across
the collaboration and elsewhere for potential uptake by RDP
fellows, primary health post-graduate students, GP
registrars, and RCBI bursary holders across the
collaboration.
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Developing and implementing strategies for
promoting PHCRED and disseminating information about PHCRED
activities: e.g. Stronger linkages to PHCRIS, on-going
collaborative web-site development, mail alerts through
networks, media release, linkages to appropriate
organizations (AES, RACGP,GP Collaboratives), branding of
presentations and papers at suitable conferences.
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Engaging the collaboration with policy advisers,
consumers, practitioners, administrators and other
researchers in order to inform the development and
implementation of collaborative research projects of optimal
relevance to practice and policy.
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