Study Identifies Features That Support Innovation And Organizational Capacity In Primary Care Groups

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 27 Jul 2005 - 6:00 PDT

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In a study of four fledgling Primary Care Organizations in the United Kingdom, researchers identified five features associated with increased organizational capacity for innovation:

1) clear structures and vision for corporate and clinical governance,

2) opportunity for people to learn at all organizational levels,

3) both clinicians and managers in leadership roles that encourage participation,

4) the right timing for adapting initiative, and

5) external facilitation that allow people to make sense of their experiences.

A whole system participatory action research model that enabled people from different backgrounds to make sense of diverse research insights, was used to identify these features. The authors assert that this approach has great potential to foster innovation and capacity building in health care.

Increasing Capacity for Innovation In Bureaucratic Primary Care Organizations - A Whole System Participatory Action Research Project
By Paul Thomas, F.R.C.G.P., M.D., et al

Annals of Family Medicine is a peer-reviewed research journal that provides a cross-disciplinary forum for new, evidence-based information affecting the primary care discipline. Launched in May 2003, the journal is sponsored by six family medical organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Board of Family Medicine, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors and the North American Primary Care Research Group. Annals is published six times each year and contains original research from the clinical, biomedical, social and health services areas, as well as contributions on methodology and theory, selected reviews, essays and editorials. A board of directors with representatives from each of the sponsoring organizations oversees Annals. Complete editorial content and interactive discussion groups for each published article can be accessed free of charge on the journal's Web site, http://www.aafp.org.

Kristin Robinson
kristinr@aafp.org
913-906-6000
American Academy of Family Physicians
http://www.aafp.org
Taken from the July/August 2005 Annals of Family Medicine tip sheet

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