THE PREVIOUS EGPRN MEETING IN KUŞADASI, TURKEY, MAY 2013
The theme of this EGPRN meeting was ‘Risky behaviours and healthy outcomes in primary health care.’ EGPRN received 136 abstracts, of which 72 were selected for oral, poster or one-slide presentation. The participant number (147 registered) was also one of the highest ever.
It was the 10th anniversary of changing the name of EGPRW (‘Workshop’) to EGPRN (‘Network’). The change was made in 2003, in Ankara (56th meeting), and it was very nice to celebrate it in Turkey 10 years later. As in 2003, this EGPRN meeting was organized parallel to the National conference of Turkish family medicine. Mehmet Ungan, hosting EGPRN as acting chair, was given the honour of being the president of the National conference as well. Pinar Topsever and Pemra C. Ünalan, who were primarily responsible for organizing the EGPRN meeting in Kuşadasi, did an excellent job. EGPRN sincerely thanks the local host TAHUD and its members for accommodating EGPRN in such a graceful way.
The traditional EGPRN pre-conference workshops on Thursday were all well attended. Both main conferences were organized in two separate areas of the venue. Participants of either conference could mix in planned sessions and during the social activities. The three keynotes in the EGPRN meeting were Esra Saatçi (Turkey), Martin von Fragstein (UK) and Toker Erguder (WHO). The EGPRN poster prize was sponsored by TAHUD and was won by Annika Viniol (Marburg, Germany) with the poster ‘Chronic low back pain patient subgroups in primary care.’
ELECTIONS: PEOPLE COME AND GO
In Kuşadasi, elections were held for the Chair of EGPRN and positions in the Executive Board members. Jean Karl Soler was elected as the next chair of EGPRN, four executive board members were re-elected, and three fresh names joined the Executive Board: Esperanza Diaz (Norway), Tiny van Merode (The Netherlands) and Caroline Huas (France). The EGPRN Executive Board unanimously decided that Mehmet Ungan will be our candidate for the next Wonca Europe Executive Board elections in June 2013 for the period 2013–2016.
Thanks to past chair Eva Hummers-Pradier, to past Honorary Treasurer Jelle Stoffers and to past chair of the Educational Committee Teresa Pawlikowska for their very valuable contributions in the development of EGPRN.
RESEARCH FUNDING: THREE NEW PROJECTS APPROVED
To support research, EGPRN is offering co-financing of collaborative projects, affiliated with EGPRN. Recently, the Research Strategy Committee updated the rules for small project funding. Once approved by the EGPRN Council, they will be on EGPRN's web site. Currently three projects are running and three more research project grants have been approved by the EGPRN Research Strategy Committee (RSC) in the last six months: the study on compliance in CRC screening using iFOB test in Bulgaria (project leader: Rossen Dimov, Plovdiv), and a study on ‘Correlations between cognitive tests, quality of life and functional tests in elderly primary care patients in northern and southern Europe’ (project Leader: Ferdinando Petrazzuoli).
EGPRN @ WONCA PRAGUE
EGPRN participates with various workshops in the Wonca World Conference in Prague 2013: ‘Transforming patient safety in primary care using electronic patient records—the European transform project’ (Jean Karl Soler); ‘The research agenda for general practice/family medicine and primary health care in Europe—what does it mean for other regions?’ (Eva Hummers-Pradier); the joint workshop EGPRN-EJGP-VdGM ‘Writing for publication’ (Jelle Stoffers, Editor-in-Chief EJGP); and ‘Evidence based new Wonca definition and EGPRN research agenda’ (Mehmet Ungan).
NEXT: JOINT MEETING WITH EURIPA IN MALTA, OCTOBER 2013!
The 77th EGPRN meeting and 4th EURIPA Rural Health Invitational Forum will be in Attard-Malta, 17–20 October 2013.Theme: ‘Research into different contexts in general practice/family medicine: rural versus urban perspectives.’
The Executive Boards of EGPRN and EURIPA are proud to present a joint meeting to be held between the two organizations. EURIPA has recently set up a research stream focussing on rural and remote health and health care. This joint meeting on research in family medicine with the special topic of ‘context’ and how it affects health care in family medicine is a unique opportunity for collaboration between two network organizations within Wonca Europe. The scientific programme will have input from both organizations, offering a unique blend of research and expertise. Keynote speakers with links to both organizations shall give the meeting an appetising opening. In addition, the business meetings and social events of both groups will be parallel and joint as appropriate; a new approach to working together. We look forward to welcoming you to Malta for the first joint EGPRN-EURIPA meeting in October! For more information on this meeting: please visit the EGPRN web site http://www.egprn.org