Series: The research agenda for general practice/family medicine and primary health care in Europe. Part 2. Results: Primary care management and community orientation.
At the WONCA Europe conference 2009 the recently published 'Research Agenda for General Practice/Family Medicine and Primary Health Care in Europe' was presented. It is a background paper and reference manual, providing advocacy of general practice/family medicine (GP/FM) in Europe. The Research Agenda summarizes the evidence relating to the core competencies and characteristics of the WONCA Europe definition of GP/FM, and its implications for general practitioners/family doctors, researchers and policy makers. The European Journal of General Practice publishes a series of articles based on this document. In a first article, background, objectives, and methodology were discussed. In this second article, the results for the core competencies 'primary care management' and 'community orientation' are presented. Though there is a large body of research on various aspects of 'primary care management', it represents a very scattered rather than a meta view. Many studies focus on care for specific diseases, the primary/secondary care interface, or the implications of electronic patient records. Cost efficiency or process indicators of quality are current outcomes. Current literature on community orientation is mainly descriptive, and focuses on either care for specific diseases, or specific patient populations, or on the uptake of preventive services. Most papers correspond poorly to the WONCA concept. For both core competencies, there is a lack of research with a longitudinal perspective and/or relevant health or quality of life outcomes as well as research on patients' preferences and education for organizational aspects of GP/FM.
Hummers-Pradier
Eva
E
Institute of General Practice, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany. hummers-pradier.eva@mh-hannover.de
Beyer
Martin
M
Chevallier
Patrick
P
Eilat-Tsanani
Sophia
S
Lionis
Christos
C
Peremans
Lieve
L
Petek
Davorina
D
Rurik
Imre
I
Soler
Jean Karl
JK
Stoffers
Henri Ejh
HE
Topsever
Pinar
P
Ungan
Mehmet
M
van Royen
Paul
P
D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D005060:Europe; D005194:Family Practice / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000458:organization & administration; D011050:Policy Making; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000458:organization & administration