The need to build primary care research capacity is well documented. A lack of research capacity correlates with a lack of research productivity which has several consequences:
1) much of the nation’s research is not primary care related and is not performed on common problems of common people at the common community level;
2) it keeps primary care departments from achieving a funding status and prestige equal to other departments, and;
3) it may result in fewer students choosing careers in primary care.
The Ohio State Primary Care Research Institute (PCRI) is increasingly valued as an equitable contributor to the Ohio State University Medical Center’s Biomedical Research Plan and related strategic goal: To be among the top quartile of academic medical centers in the U.S. by 2010.
PCRI researchers function independently, in small groups, and as Research Theme Teams. The latter consists minimally of three primary care researchers, an NIH-experienced researcher, a senior research scholar, a behavior-oriented researcher, and a research/statistical methodologist. Each Research Theme Team sponsors and facilitates other like research teams to work in collaboration. Special attention is given to planning, proposing, and conducting NIH-type research.
PCRI operates the multi-site Ohio State Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network (OSU-PCPBRN). We are committed to conducting high quality office-based research that adds to the primary care knowledge base, enhances the delivery of preventive medicine, and positively influences diagnosis and management of health problems regarding patients, families, and communities.
Research conducted under the auspices of PCRI is aligned with Ohio State’s Biomedical Research Plan including: mechanisms of health and disease, biomedical informatics, biomedical technology, risk factors for disease, assessment of disease, intervention in the disease process, and outcomes research.
PCRI research productivity is evaluated using a scorecard mechanism reflecting total research awards, total National Institutes of Health research dollars, total clinical trial awards, and published articles - including journal impact factor.