SCIENTIFIC MEETING
Registration and abstract submission is open for the 3rd Scientific Meeting Uppsala 23–24 May 2013. See http://www.theipcrg.org/display/EVECONF/3rd+ Scientific+ Meeting%2C+ Uppsala%2C+ Sweden + 23-24 + May + 2013.
At the opening session, excerpts will be shown from the brand new TV documentary on FRESH AIR Survey Uganda. Main programme comprises primary care respiratory research.
IPCRG 7TH WORLD CONFERENCE ATHENS
Theme and date of the conference are now confirmed: A Breath of Fresh Air: Multiple Morbidities and Integration. The meeting is scheduled for 21–24 May 2014.
An International Advisory Panel has been invited to ensure we represent different primary care perspectives from around the world. If you wish to be involved, please e-mail Sam Louw: [email protected].
IPCRG STRATEGY
The IPCRG Board of directors has recently agreed that over the next three years the IPCRG's priorities are to:
Promote good clinical respiratory practice
Actively lead the respiratory health research and education agenda
Identify and unlock the global potential of our flagship products
Strengthen our core: membership and communities of interest
PROMOTE GOOD CLINICAL RESPIRATORY PRACTICE
We will advocate for primary care's role in lung health by showing practical solutions to case-finding and management that include not only general practice but also other primary care approaches. We will also demonstrate the value of primary care in managing multiple morbidities by helping people change behaviours to stop smoking and/or inhaling indoor smoke, to eat a better diet and to increase physical activity as well as offering safe and effective pharmacological interventions. We will advocate for access for populations to effective respiratory medicines in primary care as part of the UN Global Action Plan for non-communicable diseases.
ACTIVELY LEAD THE RESPIRATORY HEALTH RESEARCH AND EDUCATION AGENDA
We will make progress to answer, or influence others to answer, our prioritized research needs. We will continue to build research and educational capacity in countries with little or no current primary care respiratory research or educational activity including low and middle income countries. We will actively link education and research. We will selectively scale up national projects into larger studies through cross-border collaboration.
IDENTIFY AND UNLOCK THE GLOBAL POTENTIAL OF OUR FLAGSHIP PRODUCTS
We will expand these flagship products into new clinical and geographical areas:
IPCRG conferences and respiratory workshops at Wonca conferences
E-Faculty that increases primary care research capability in respiratory research-naïve countries. In 2013, we will focus on Chile, and also test the model of an IPCRG Research Fellow, where the IPCRG supports the living costs of a researcher who works on relevant primary care questions, to spend time as part of their PhD programme away from their host university.
E-quality that tests what educational interventions make a difference to clinical behaviour. There are three live projects:
— Asthma education for GPs who prescribe no inhaled medicine in Pune, India
— Introduction to chronic lung disease for physicians in Eritrea
— Improvement of asthma and COPD diagnostic skills in Sao Paulo, Brazil
FRESH AIR—‘franchising’ the IPCRG survey by providing IPCRG set-up and mentoring support and building a FRESH AIR community by providing mentoring, the FRESH AIR protocol and also some re-usable equipment. This will enable new teams in new countries to measure a population's exposure to smoke, the health impact of that exposure, and to use the survey to develop local commitment and human resources to tackle the problems that are identified.
UNLOCK - expanding IPCRG's research capacity in COPD and also extending to asthma through cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using our community's data: the UNLOCK group provides access to over 22 000 primary care COPD records and potentially 115 000 primary care asthma records.
Publications in multiple languages including desktop helpers, position papers, Respiratory@Glance and translations of key Primary Care Respiratory Journal papers
STRENGTHEN OUR CORE: MEMBERSHIP AND COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST
We will expand our reach beyond the 100 000 clinicians we reach now through supporting membership drives to new primary care groups, corporate members and associates. The Board and Committee Chairs will actively seek new talent for committee and Board positions. We will strengthen the web platform as the hub for communities of interest and practice.
Note: there is currently a call to Members for nominations for President and the host of the 2016 conference.