NAPCRG (formerly the North American Primary Care Research Group) was founded in 1972 by Maurice Wood out of a desire to create a nurturing community for those who shared the then-heretical view that family medicine is a research discipline. For more than 50 years, NAPCRG has pursued its mission to support a membership committed to producing and disseminating new knowledge from all disciplines relevant to primary care. This is accomplished through building various research capacities. Building the researchers themselves by fostering the training and development of new and existing primary care researchers, exposing them to new ideas, and providing them the space to share and learn from each other’s work. Building a flourishing primary care research ecosystem by growing its funding base through initiatives such as the Grant Generating Project. And building the discipline itself through advancing the science of family medicine and primary care.
NAPCRG’s Committee on Advancing the Science of Family Medicine (CASFM) was established to promote and actively contribute scholarship that advances the science of family medicine for the betterment of patients and their communities. Its mission is to assure that the development, translation, and implementation of new knowledge rapidly becomes part of the fabric of family medicine practice. CASFM is comprised of 6 work groups with specific topical and methodological foci. Within each of these groups, NAP-CRG members with similar interests come together to collaborate on projects that push the science that underpins new evidence. Each group has a mandate to meet at least 4 times per year and produce at least 1 product per year for dissemination to the general NAPCRG membership and the wider family medicine and primary care community.
Research Methods
The Research Methods work group has a focus on methodological and analytic issues, both qualitative and quantitative, that are key for family medicine and primary care research. This group is dedicated to:
Advocacy for excellence and state-of-the-art methods in family medicine and primary care research
Identification and exploration of new issues in research methodology, including novel study designs and qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods that may be relevant in family medicine and primary care research.
Creation of a repository for information about research methods in primary care to be available to NAPCRG members
Past products of the Research Methods group have included:
A Model for Evaluating Practice Transformation: Methods Applicable to the Emerging Science of Primary Care Systems Redesign. A workshop at the NAPCRG Annual Meeting, November, 2012
ASFM 2016 Methods pre-conference: Advancing Primary Care Research. November 12, 2016
Using Rapid Turn-Around Methods to Conduct High-Quality Qualitative Primary Care Research (PR5). A half-day pre-conference workshop at the NAPCRG Annual Meeting November 2019.
Health Information Technology
This work group considers the research and standards priorities in ambulatory/primary care, and opportunities to advance understanding of HIT needs in primary care. It is also working to identify the HIT needs for creating a PCMH.
Past products of the Health Information Technology group have included:
Peterson KA. Essential requirements of information technology for primary care. Fam Pract. 2012; 29: 119-120. 10.1093/fampra/cms028
Krist AH, Beasley JW, Crosson JC, et al. Electronic health record functionality needed to better support primary care. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2014;21:764-771. 10.1136/amiajnl-2013-002229
Identifying and developing AI for primary care; a user centered/participatory design workshop of the CASFM HIT Workgroup. A pre-conference workshop at the NAPCRG Annual Meeting October 2023.
Complexity Science
The Complexity Science work group seeks to promote the application of complexity science principles to the conduct and interpretation of primary care research. This is one of the newest CASFM workgroups, with growing interest and membership in recent years.
The successful products of the Complexity Science group include:
Establishment of a complexity science listserv and monthly conference calls
Annual tracks of paper and poster complexity science presentations at NAPCRG
Development of a complexity science curriculum
Creation of complexity science modules on NAPCRG website
Inclusion of term “complexity science” for submissions
Identification of a cadre of reviewers in complexity science
Development of “Complexity Science Forum” in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
Assistance with the development of the International Society for Systems and Complexity Sciences for Health
Medical Education Research
The Medical Education Research work group was born in 2016 with the aim to promote the development of the medical education field of inquiry among family physicians and other researchers in primary care. This group is dedicated to achieving the following goals and activities:
To unite medical education scholars in the NAPCRG community and foster scholarship in educational research
To support the implementation of educational innovations at all levels in family medicine
To undertake knowledge translation activities aimed to strengthen the visibility of this field of inquiry among all educational stakeholders
Products of the Medical Education Research work group have included:
CASFM 2016 Methods Pre-Conference: Advancing Primary Care Research. Presented on Saturday, November 12, 2016
CASFM Medical Education Session with Dr. Charo Rodríguez, March 2024
CASFM Medical Education Session with Drs. M. Epstein and Y. Maryam, December 2023.
Participatory Health Research
The Participatory Health Research work group promotes and supports collaborative research partnerships in primary care together with patients, communities, and other stakeholder partners. Its goals include jointly collaborating on products that increase understanding and capacity for a participatory approach in primary care research; supporting primary care researchers and professionals undertaking participatory research; and advocating for participatory research policy within relevant research and health care organizations.
Past products of the Participatory Health Research work group have included:
Responsible Research with Communities: Participatory Research in Primary Care. This policy statement was adopted by the NAPCRG Board of Directors and membership at the NAP-CRG Annual Meeting on November 6, 1998. NAPCRG was the first international research organization to adopt such a policy on community-based research.
Allen ML, Salsberg J, Knot M, LeMaster JW, et al. Engaging with communities, engaging with patients: amendment to the NAPCRG 1998 Policy Statement on Responsible Research With Communities. Fam Pract. 2017;34(3):313-321. 10.1093/fampra/cmw074
Ramsden V, Salsberg J, Herbert C, Westfall J, LeMaster J, Macaulay AC. Patient- and community-oriented research: how is authentic engagement identified in grant applications? Can Fam Physician. 2017;63(1):74-76. https://www.cfp.ca/content/63/1/74.long
Practice-Based Research Networks
The Practice-Based Research Networks (PRBN) work group explores the role of practice-based research laboratories and learning communities in the development of new model practices. It is currently using a collaborative strategy to develop research best practices specific to the context of practice-based research. The group also considers advocacy needs of practice-based researchers.
Past products of the PBRN work group have included:
Donahue KE, Manca D, Halladay JR, et al. The watershed of practice-based research: lessons and opportunities from the COVID pandemic. HealthAffairs. Published Jan 20, 2022. 10.1377/forefront.20220118.451069
Dolor RJ, Campbell-Voytal K, Daly J, et al. Practice-based research network research good practices (PRGPs): summary of recommendations. Clin Transl Sci. 2015;8(6):638-646. 10.1111/cts.12317
Campbell-Voytal K, Daly JM, Nagykaldi ZJ, et al. Team science approach to developing consensus on research good practices for practice-based research networks: a case study. Clin Transl Sci. 2015;8(6): 632–637. 10.1111/cts.12363
CASFM welcomes and encourages global participation from across all areas of primary care research. For information on how to get involved, please contact napcrgoffice{at}napcrg.org
- © 2024 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.
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