Most of the care for most of the patients most of the time is provided in community-based primary care practices. Generating new knowledge by conducting research in these practices and communities, and implementing research findings, is widely recognized as necessary to achieve better health for populations. It is the way to meet patients where they are to derive the insights that shape practice beyond textbooks. Practices and communities are like living laboratories.
This Living Laboratory theme served as the backdrop for the 2020 NAPCRG Practice-Based Research Network Conference, which brought together the energy of nearly 130 participants from the United States, Canada, and Japan and Australia in a first-ever virtual environment on August 13-14, 2020. Sponsored by AHRQ, the conference featured an array of on-demand presentations and an online poster hall, all of which have remained available to registered attendees for continued access. The ability to go back to presentations has enhanced continued learning.
Plenary speakers focused on fundamentals like implementation sustainability and implementation science:
Implementation Sustainability, Dr Sharon Straus
Advancing Implementation Science: An NCI Perspective, David Chambers, DPhil
NIH Panel - Interact with NIH leaders and learn how the organization can promote PBRN research: Dr Nicole Redmond, from NHLBI; Dr Eliseo Perez-Stable, from NIMHD; and Dr Wilson Compton, from NIDA
Not surprisingly, this year’s pandemic compelled presentations on Covid-19 such as:
Clinical Trials Recruitment in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges, Opportunities, and a Forum for Sharing Experiences (Braden O’Neill, MD, DPhil, CCFP, & Aashka Bhatt, BSc).
The State Networks of Colorado Ambulatory Practices & Partners (SNOCAP) COVID-19 Crisis Response: One PBRN’s Journey to Practice Outreach, Partnership, and Quick Response to the COVID-19 Crisis (Mary Fisher, MPH & Donald Nease, MD).
COVID-19 Panel - An Interactive Discussion With Time for Q&A Around the Latest Developments and Response to the Pandemic (Jack Westfall, MD, MPH, & Rebecca Etz, PhD).
The 10-member PBRN Planning Committee reviewed over 60 abstracts that covered 15 different themes: behavioral health, chronic care management, clinical practice, community engaged research, dissemination/implementation, health disparities, infrastructure/network operations, practice facilitation/quality improvement, prevention, proposal development/study design/methods, shared decision making/collaborative deliberation, stakeholder engagement, technology, training, Covid-19 responses. The schedule allowed for live, on-demand and interactive sessions, including informal networking over coffee chats and a virtual poster hall. To enhance the experience, some posters were featured in moderated discussions so that attendees could dive deeper into the subject matter and research methodologies.
Presentations remain available for viewing by registered participants on the meeting platform until November 10, 2020 and the American Academy of Family Physicians awarded the conference 8.00 continuing medical education credits.
Stay tuned to NAPCRG’s website for information about the 2021 PBRN Conference, which is scheduled to be held in June in Bethesda, Maryland.
- © 2020 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.
