Building the foundation for a practice-based research network: Supporting primary care research across canada

Context: The Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) was designed to engage previously passive stakeholders in the research process to ensure that the most urgent health challenges are addressed with evidence-based solutions that are feasible and scalable. The Primary and Integrated Health Care Innovations Network (PIHCIN), one of multiple SPOR entities, is rooted in community-based primary health care and meant to support transformation of primary and integrated care to improve patient experiences and health.

Objective: To describe key components of building the foundation for a cross-jurisdictional, practice-based research network.

Design: Cross-sectional survey and PIHCI network documentation review.

Setting: SPOR PIHCI networks within British Columbia; Alberta; Saskatchewan; Manitoba; Ontario; Quebec; New Brunswick; Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island; Newfoundland and Labrador; and the Northwest Territories.

Participants: Responses were received from 11 networks who completed a template asking about their governance, capacity building, stakeholder engagement and patient partners. Responses were also received from the SPOR PIHCIN Pan-Canadian Patient Council.

Outcome Measures: Thematic analysis across responses and documents for key components foundational to PIHCIN: types of stakeholders engaged, types of capacity building activities, knowledge translation and exchange activities.

Results: Tripartite (clinician, scientist, decision-maker) leadership was used to align more closely with provincial and territorial needs in bringing practice and research closer together. PIHCIN enabled a unique pan-Canadian forum for government staff responsible for primary care. Individual networks and the PIHCIN patient-partners were actively engaged in research and governance on all levels including leading their own research. PIHCIN built research capacity by partnering with the Transdisciplinary Understanding and Training on Research Primary Health Care (TUTOR-PHC) and embedding fellows within the network. The PIHCI network undertook two separate learning series featuring patients, policy makers and scientists that were open to the public and demonstrated clear impact.

Conclusion: Foundational components of embedded patients-partners, tripartite leadership, capacity building and knowledge translation and exchange have led to the formation of the PIHCI network providing an excellent base to build a pan-Canadian practice-based research and learning platform.