Thursday, 15 January 2009

The notion of the general practice rooms being a research laboratory is beginning to be recognised, especially in the Eastern States.


This theme emerged during a a primary health care conference held last month in Perth. according to Professor Jon Emery, Head of the School of Primary, Aboriginal and Rural Health Care and Professor of General Practice.

He said the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development (PHCRED) conference was an extremely positive day with a good range of presentations from early career primary care researchers from all over WA.

“I particularly enjoyed the presentation by Dr Allan Walley, GP from Margaret River, who came along with his broken surf board and presented a study exploring the epidemiology of surfing injuries in Margaret River,” Professor Emery said. “This was his first toe in the water of research and had been helped through the process by the PHCRED-funded team at UWA.”

The State PHCRED Conference was held in conjunction with Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP).

Delegates, who travelled from as far as Albany and Margaret River in the South, to Geraldton and Broome in the North, included GPs, registrars, nurses, medical students, allied health professionals, consumer group representatives, physiotherapists and other health professionals.

PHCRED Statewide Coordinator Lyn Brun said delegates were encouraged by the amount of evidence-based research being undertaken in WA and the conference provided a great opportunity for researchers from across the state to share the learning gained from the PHCRED program.

PHCRED provides fellowships and bursaries resulting from funding of research into key areas for Primary Health Care with an additional focus on rural and indigenous health.

“The research findings will go a long way to assisting doctors and health professionals across the state in providing a better level of service and more targeted programs,” she said.

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