FP Report -- 1999 Post-Assembly Edition
Academy begins national research network
The AAFP Congress of Delegates, which met Sept. 14-16 in Orlando, Fla., adopted without question a Texas AFP resolution for the AAFP to develop the internal infrastructure necessary to support a national family practice office-based research network. Delegates also accepted the Board of Directors' report on plans for an AAFP practice-based research network.
According to the Board report, the network's mission will be to conduct, support, promote and advocate primary care research in practice-based settings that (1) addresses questions of importance to the discipline of family medicine and (2) improves health care delivery to and health status of patients, their families and communities.
The new network will maintain a spirit of cooperation and collaboration, providing technical support and advocacy as needed for existing and developing chapter and member networks.
The Ambulatory Sentinel Practice Network recently announced that because of financial difficulties, it would close by the end of the year after wrapping up existing projects. Faced with the void created by ASPN's demise, the Academy's Board of Directors decided Aug. 28 to establish a new network.
The Board action is the latest to demonstrate AAFP's commitment to primary care research, said outgoing Board Chair Neil Brooks, M.D., of Rockville, Conn. "This will accomplish two important things. It will give high priority to office-based research, and it will give family physicians exposure to the importance of research. Supporting and promoting office-based research are key strategies for helping AAFP members provide patients with the best possible care."
The network will be phased in over three to five years, and staff will work in the AAFP Scientific Activities Division at the new headquarters building in Leawood, Kan. More information will be available later this month, when the AAFP will begin recruiting ASPN practices and other researchers to join the network.
Family physician John Beasley, M.D., of Madison, Wis., who chairs the Federation of Practice-Based Research Networks steering committee, said the Academy's network will continue the momentum started by ASPN by generating interest and enthusiasm among participating family physicians, providing support and advocacy for research and researchers, and ensuring the constant flow of researchers and funded projects. "We are extremely pleased to see the AAFP pick up this critically important centerpiece for research in the discipline," he said.
The Academy is encouraging family practice researchers to attend ASPN's 1999 Convocation of Practices Dec. 1-4 at the Cheyenne Mountain Conference Resort in Colorado Springs, Colo. The convocation will focus on the theme "Doctors and Patients in the Changing Health Care Environment."
The convocation will include sessions to discuss ongoing research, results of completed research and ideas for new research.
Beasley said the convocation will feature "a clear hand-off from ASPN to the Academy. This meeting is really going to draft the future for the overall enterprise of research in family practice."
For more information on the ASPN convocation or the AAFP's research initiative, call the AAFP Scientific Activities Division at (800) 274-2237.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1999 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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