To further integrate family medicine/primary care research into clinical practice, NAPCRG and the Association of Departments of Family Medicine (ADFM) in the U.S. hosted a Research Summit on October 30, 2023, just prior to the 51st Annual Meeting of NAPCRG in San Francisco (U.S.). This Research Summit was supported by the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) Foundation’s Family Medicine NEXT Initiative.

Approximately 140 people were invited to attend and participate in one of the Recommended Strategic Priorities Work Groups. The Recommended Strategic Priorities were: Pathways / Mentorship with the goal being to grow the family medicine research workforce by expanding pathways and strengthening mentorship; Funding & Advocacy with the goal being to increase funding for family medicine research and advocate for enhanced health policy and support; and, Infrastructure with the goal being to build a national infrastructure for organizing and optimizing family medicine research opportunities.

The questions deliberated in the Pathways/Mentorship Group were:

1. How do we help position ‘trainees’/providers to conduct meaningful research, including in quality improvement (particularly as an entry point), that contributed to the evidence base?
2. What does the ‘culture of curiosity’ look like when running well? [leads to: building success in research]
3. How do you link your daily practice of seeing patients to this ‘culture of curiosity’ and ‘research’? How to capture your questions as they occur throughout your clinical sessions?

The question deliberated in the Funding & Advocacy Group was:

1. How do we align advocacy efforts with the 2021 National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Report and forthcoming Action Plan to build momentum and increase support for family medicine research, including the creation of an Office of Primary Care Research.

The questions deliberated in the Infrastructure Group were:

1. There are a number of unique family medicine centric research methodologies that exist. How and why do these methodologies create challenges for family medicine/primary care researchers and yet they are the best for the patients?
2. Given this information, what would you do first to mitigate the challenges?

Currently, the information gleaned at the Summit has not yet been analyzed; however, the Executive Committee and the Board of NAPCRG will keep you informed as this moves forward. Learn more about the Research Summit here.

> Download the strategic plan

If you are interested in participating in any aspect of this work going forward, do not hesitate to contact Dr. Tom Vansaghi, Executive Director, for further information.