Family medicine research: seizing the moment to advance the field

Brad Wright; Aoife O'Connor; Erin P Fraher; Miguel Marino; Bianca K Frogner

doi:10.1186/s12913-024-12121-6

Family medicine research: seizing the moment to advance the field

BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Dec 20;24(1):1627. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-12121-6.

Authors

Brad Wright^{1

2}, Aoife O'Connor³, Erin P Fraher^{4

5}, Miguel Marino^{6

7}, Bianca K Frogner^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Services Policy and Management, University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health, 915 Greene St, Ste 355, Columbia, SC, USA. [email protected].
² Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. [email protected].
³ Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁴ Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁵ Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁶ Department of Family Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
⁷ Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
⁸ Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁹ Department of Health Systems and Population Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.

Abstract

Despite a growing awareness that primary care is essential to an accessible, equitable, high-quality, cost-effective health care system, family medicine research remains woefully underdeveloped. The increased focus of both state and federal policy makers on primary care payment and care delivery models presents an opportunity for family medicine to redefine itself as an academically rigorous discipline at the forefront of generating evidence that improves patient care and population health while reducing costs. In a critical review of the literature, we identified five themes-leadership, funding, resources, team science, and departmental culture-that are integral to family medicine departments seeking to grow and expand their research capacity.

Keywords: Health services research; Interdisciplinary research; Organizational culture; Primary health care; Research support as topic.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Family Practice* / organization & administration
Health Services Research* / organization & administration
Humans
Leadership
Primary Health Care / organization & administration
Research Support as Topic