Bridging the Gap: A Project to Promote Collaboration Between General Practitioners and Researchers in Primary Care

Martina Zangger, Sven Streit, Katharina Jungo

Keywords: primary care research, GP-researcher collaboration, participatory design approach

Background:

To ensure high-quality and effective primary healthcare, there is a need for more research in primary care settings. However, it has been more and more difficult to recruit General Practitioners (GPs) to participate in research projects. Despite the important role that GPs play in patient care, there is a gap between GPs and health care researchers, with limited opportunities for collaboration between them. This can lead to missed opportunities for improving patient care. Good communication between GPs and researchers plays a substantial role in motivating GPs to participate in primary care research.

Research questions:

How can we improve collaboration between GPs and researchers in primary care?
The objective of this research project is to bridge the gap between GPs and primary care researchers. An online platform will be created to facilitate communication, aid collaboration and enhance GPs' involvement in research, such as supporting studies or being part of study teams

Method:

This project uses an iterative, participatory design. It will start with a qualitative investigation to gather GPs' perceptions and expectations for collaboration with researchers. Based on these insights, a prototype platform will be developed to encourage and facilitate interaction between GPs and researchers. The prototype will be repeatedly refined using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles.

Results:

The project will result in a prototype platform that promotes collaboration between GPs and researchers in primary care research. The platform will provide updates on research projects, including feedback about their performance and information about planned studies. Research teams can easily disseminate study results and access a pool of interested GPs for recruitment.

Conclusions:

By addressing the gap between GPs and researchers, this project aims to facilitate collaboration and strengthen primary care research. The project employs both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods to comprehensively evaluate the impact of the platform.

Points for discussion:

What are the main challenges faced by GPs in your experience when collaborating with researchers, and how can we address these challenges to improve primary care research?

How can we effectively facilitate collaboration between GPs and researchers in primary care research?

Do you have any experiences with online platforms to facilitate this collaboration?

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