Future of Research in Family Medicine: Where To From Here?

While I was reading Carol Herbert’s article, “ Future of Research in Family Medicine: Where To From Here?”, a third year medical student stopped by to tell me she will be joining my clinic this summer to do a research project answering a practical question about the care our patients receive. Remarkable timing.

Herbert chronicles the evolution of primary care research to its present day broad range of skills and topics. She proposes 6 tasks we must accomplish in order to develop our future research potential. Perhaps most important, and underlying all 6 tasks, is the need to build our culture of inquiry grounded in the practice of primary care. When I asked the student why she was doing the research project, she answered because she was curious. She had raised a question with a faculty member who suggested she study it and find the answer. The medical school offered a summer bursary and the clinic provided the patients and mentors. This is the culture we need to support.

Herbert identifies the first task in building a strong research future as ensuring trainees have a positive attitude toward research. This requires encouraging curiosity, providing opportunities, supporting skill development, protecting time and offering funding where appropriate to medical students, residents and fellows. Most importantly, it requires role models who evince our culture of inquiry and scholarship, practice it, nurture it and contribute to it. My student colleague is part of that culture in which it is natural to want to understand our patients’ needs better and find ways to provide improved care.

Competing interests:   None declared