UL Health Care Research Showcased at the Prestigious North American Primary Care Annual Conference New Orleans

On December 3rd, Professor MacFarlane, Chair of Primary Health Care Research at UL’s Graduate Entry medical School, led a workshop that showcased the European Union-funded “RESTORE” project at the North American Primary Care Annual Conference in New Orleans, USA.

The North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) is a volunteer association of members committed to producing and disseminating new knowledge from all disciplines relevant to primary care. NAPCRG’s Annual Meeting is the premier international forum for presenting new knowledge in primary care and advances in research methodology.

The RESTORE initiative, which is led by Prof MacFarlane, focuses on REsearch into implementation STrategies to support patients of different ORigins and language background in a variety of European primary care settings.

Chosen as an example of European Union research in this field, the workshop will highlight the project team’s activities related to investigating and supporting the implementation of evidence based guidelines and training initiatives that have been developed to improve communication between migrants and primary care providers, into routine clinical practice.

In describing the impact of this work, Prof Macfarlane said “This is an important area for primary care research because translational gaps between evidence, practice and policy are well documented and require attention to enable evidence to impact on service users’ health and well-being.”

Prof MacFarlane is a Principal Investigator at the Centre for Interventions in Infection, Inflammation & Immunity (4i), Graduate Entry Medical School, UL (www.4i.ie). 4i is the University of Limerick's newly-established research centre and brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers focused on developing studies that impact health outcomes. A major focus of 4i is the translation of research findings into better patient outcomes and improved effectiveness, efficiency, and economics in healthcare service delivery.

The RESTORE project study protocol was recently published in the widely respected Journal of Implementation Science URL: http://www.implementationscience.com/content/7/1/111