GENERAL SESSIONS

Opening Remarks
Allison Cole, MD, MPH & Alexander Singer, MD, CCFP
Conference Co-chairs
Vivian Ramsden, PhD, RN, BSN, MS 
NAPCRG Immediate Past President
Aimee Eden, PhD, MPH
Agency of Healthcare Research Quality (AHRQ)
Michael Kurilla, MD, PhD
National Institutes of Health (NIH)/ National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
Amy Patterson, MD
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Raymond Haeme
NAPCRG Patient Representative, U.S.

Plenary I
Choose your own adventure: PBRNs, primary care learning health systems and everything in between
Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya

Presentation Slides

Practice Based Research Networks have been in place for many years, and their key functions have included clinician engagement in research, trial coordination and creation of primary care information systems. This presentation will provide an overview of the Canadian Primary Care Research Network and the characteristics of 21 local, regional and provincial PBRNs that it supports. It will present a draft PBRN maturity model defining the various components and capabilities of PBRNs as a series of strategic choices for individual networks. These components can support functions such as community engagement, clinical quality improvement, research or learning at the health system level. Engagement of patients, providers, researchers and policymakers will also be explored both as enablers of the growth of PBRNs and as an end in itself. The increasing role of patients in PBRNs across Canada will also be explored. This will be presented by the co-chair of the Canadian Primary Care Research Network and the co-chair of its Patient Advisory Committee. The session will engage attendees to explore how the emerging model in Canada contrasts with models in the US, the UK and elsewhere so that PBRNs can build a scale that primary care to contribute and benefit from learning across health systems.

Plenary II
PBRNs and Data: Where we have been, where are we going?
Dr. Wilson Pace

Presentation Slides

Dr. Pace will highlight the role data played in the practices of the Vanguard clinicians credited with laying the foundations for practice-based research and practice-based research networks (PBRNs). How their approaches to data collection and considerations of practice-population elucidation was picked up and transformed by early PBRNs. In particular, how data collection at the point of care, during routing clinical care, became a hallmark of early PBRN work, that has persisted. The impact of electronic health record data on PBRN activities, doors opened, problems created and can PBRNs survive without EHR data will be explored. The talk finishes up with a discussion of how artificial intelligence/machine learning is impacting health care in general, primary care specifically and what opportunities it may offer PBRNs.

Plenary III
Patient Engaged Research Session
Moderated by Dr. Emily Godfrey

Primary care Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs) are important laboratories for surveillance and research for the millions of patients who are seen in primary care clinics daily. Research studies that have been informed by patients who seek care in PBRN clinics are especially valuable because patient-engaged research helps study teams focus on research questions that matter to patients, develop research protocols that make patient recruitment feasible and gain insights about how lived experiences may play into study findings. In this plenary session, attendees will learn about four outstanding PBRN research studies that touch on both the power of patient engagement and conducting research through a primary care PBRN. The first two presentations will touch on the “how to” of community engagement, including techniques that optimize community member participation in hard-to-reach rural areas and how to support community members unanswered questions that subsequently inform funded research projects. In the last two presentations, we hear about two large studies that used rigorous research methods within primary care PRBRNs, exemplifying the power of PBRNs in creating research findings that are immediately relevant to primary care clinicians and translated into daily practice.

Including the following presentations:

• Strategies for successful implementation of rural Community Advisory Boards; Presented by Chrystal Barnes, MPH; NithyaPriya Ramalingam, PhD; Maggie McDonnell, MPH; Melinda Davis, PhD, MCR; Brittany Badicke, MPH; Mary Patzel, MBA; Emily Myers, MPH; Alex Moore, MPH; Laura Campbell, MBA, MPH
• Patient Partners Research Council: How A Check-In Question Led To Over Five Years Of Inquiry; Presented by Mary Fisher, CHES, MPH; Allison Sands; Donald Nease, MD; Douglas Fernald, MA
• SPIDER: a structured approach to quality improvement and deprescribing in older patients; preliminary results of the RCT; Presented by Alexander Singer, MD, CCFP; Stephanie Garies, PhD, MPH; Mathew Grandy, MD, CCFP; Celine Jean-Xavier, PhD; Donna Manca, MD, MCLSC; Leanne Kosowan, MSc; Sumeet Kalia; Michelle Greiver, MD, MSc, CCFP; Keri Harvey, MAHSR; Dewdunee Himasara Marasinghe, BSc, MSPH; Simone Dahrouge, PhD
• Patient Preferences in Addressing Health Needs in Primary Care; Presented by Jennifer Gilbert, PsyD; Alex Krist, MD, MPH; Jacqueline Britz, MD, MSPH; Benjamin Webel, BA; Jong Hyung Lee, PhD, MS

Closing Remarks and Awards
Allison Cole, MD, MPH & Alexander Singer, MD, CCFP
Conference Co-chairs

Congratulations to our Outstanding Poster Award winner
The patient recruitment “iceberg”: Bias and feasibility in different approaches
Benjamin Webel, BA; Jacqueline Britz, MD, MSPH; Melinda Vo; Jennifer Gilbert, PsyD; Alex Krist, MD, MPH; Paulette Lail Kashiri, MPH

Quarterly Meeting of the Global PBRN Initiative

Meeting Overview:

• Briefing on the Global PBRN Initiative
• Learning from Networks' Experiences – with the following presentations:
  • Bob Mash (SUFREN, South Africa): Experiences from the implementation of Community-Oriented Primary Care (COPC) practice in South Africa
  • Zsolt Nagykaldi (OKPRN USA): Engaging Patients and Community Members in a Practice-Based Research Network in Oklahoma
  • Sabrina Wong, BC PHCRN (Canada): Identifying essential components needed for the growth of a practice-based research and learning network – Learning Health Systems (LHS) approach
• Discussion
  • What lessons do you perceive or expect from interactions with other networks from other regions
  • How can we foster synergies among PBRNs on a global scale? 

CME Information

The AAFP has reviewed 2024 Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) Conference and deemed it acceptable for up to 11.75 Live AAFP Prescribed credit(s). Term of Approval is from 06/17/2024 to 06/18/2024. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

AAFP Prescribed credit is accepted by the American Medical Association as equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 credit(s)™ toward the AMA Physician's Recognition Award. When applying for the AMA PRA, Prescribed credit earned must be reported as Prescribed, not as Category 1.

Download your 2024 PBRN Conference CME Certificate.