DEGAM-ForNet

Evidence-based medicine requires research. Whoever wants to answer questions relevant to general care today also needs answers from general practitioners. The organisation of empirical research in independent general practices requires novel and sustainable structures, instruments and processes for the planning, organisation and implementation of complex and distributed studies as a fundamental tool. Networks of GP research practices are regional structures organized and maintained by university institutions of general medicine in Germany. Thus, answering research questions on a national level requires coordinated cooperation of those regional structures. Open questions like data sovereignty, feasibility, qualification and support have to be answered for participating university institutions and included GP practices. Therefore, the principles of cooperation between these stakeholders in the conduct of clinical trials must be understood, which is a fundamental research question of this project. Based on these findings, a range of different approaches to realize such research projects will be developed and evaluated using five different national study projects already in the planning. This will take place in a real-world laboratory since complex integrated processes have to be evaluated in an end-to-end setting. In reduced laboratory environments or through conceptual modelling and evaluation, the characteristic pitfalls of reality are likely to be overlooked. 

One objective of the five-year project is the establishment of a sustainable platform to conduct empirical research in networks of GP research practices and university institutions of general medicine in Germany. Aim is to enable efficient and quick setup of clinical trials to answer research questions as raised by events such as the COVID19 pandemics. This requires a cooperation model that can incorporate all 41 university institutions for general medicine and their research networks for general medicine in Germany. The entire concept will be evaluated together with the German Association for General Medicine and Family Medicine (DEGAM) in a joint coordination office.

This project builds on the encouraging results of the recently completed FoPraNet-BW project and the collaboration within the DEGAM-Fornet project with 19 other university institutions for general practice in Germany.

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space Grant No. FKZ 01GK2501B.