The 2014 spring meeting in Barcelona
The 2014 spring meeting of the European General Practice Research Network (EGPRN) was held from 8–11 May in Barcelona, Spain. It was organized by the Primary Healthcare University Research Institute (IDIAP-Jordi Gol), the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SEMFyC) and the Institut Català de la Salut. More than 200 participants shared research results and scientific sessions in the Sant Pau hospital. The theme ‘Preventive activities in primary care; an approach from clinical and health services research,’ was the mainstream of the conference. Major topics among the 71 presentations were cancer, lifestyle, cardiovascular risk assessment, sexual behaviour, elderly and multimorbidity. It was gratifying to observe that a number of clinical trials were presented, illustrating the growing competence of primary care in developing studies to answer the effect of interventions.
A day before the main EGPRN meeting, several EGPRN collaborative research groups (e.g. on multimorbidity and depression, woman power, dementia, early cancer diagnosis, common cold, etc.) met to discuss the progress of their research projects.
During the social programme of the meeting, participants visited the ‘Casa de Convalescencia,’ an enjoyable ancient part of the Sant Pau hospital. Afterwards, they visited the ‘Maragall primary healthcare practice’, where the local organizers explained to their guests the ins-and-outs of the Spanish primary healthcare system. Kudos to the organizing team from Barcelona.
The 2015 spring meeting: Romania
Recently, Romanian primary care researchers joined our network and actively participated in our meetings. EGPRN is very proud to announce that Romania will host the 2015 spring meeting, 7–10 May 2015. The venue is Timișoara—the ‘little Vienna’ of Romania, and the theme of the meeting is ‘Research into new methods and techniques in primary care.’ Please send in abstracts online: http://meeting.egprn.org
We welcome research on
New methods and techniques in diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of patients with acute or chronic disease (ultrasound, biomarkers, new lab. tests)
New methods in emergency medicine
New methods to improve adherence of patients with a chronic disease
The challenges of personalized medicine in primary care
Ethical dilemmas in introduction of new methods
Educational needs of a GP about new methods
As usual, ‘free-standing’ presentations of studies on any other topic are welcomed too.
Several pre-conference workshops will be held by international and local experts: on ethics in introduction of new methods, on ultrasound as a new method in family medicine, on collecting data from electronic patient records and on mixed methods research.
New membership
The current three-year period for individual and institutional members is from 1 June 2014–31 May 2017. In the new system, the three-year period is ‘running,’ i.e. you can become a member for three years at any time. A one-year membership is still optional. There are many reasons to become a member of EGPRN: you can present research on the conference and get feedback on your methodology and results, you can get advice on how to go on with research, all in a safe and friendly environment. You can connect with other researchers interested in the same topic and start a collaborative research group. EGPRN offers financial support to collaborative research of its members. Several collaborative groups that were created at the EGPRN meetings work on their research projects during EGPRN meeting. At the meetings, you can also learn about family practice in the host country. We offer several pre-conference workshops for young or more advanced researchers. Finally, members get free online access to the European Journal of General Practice. So, join us.