University of Colorado Denver:

Department of Family Medicine

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MSA - Mentored Scholarly Activity

Considering Doing Research with Us?

Research in primary care most often incorporates two fundamental strategies:

  1. improving how our health care is rendered, i.e., health care services research and health policy development
  2. improving quality of care and outcomes by studying in the practice setting, through practice-based research networks

Why Do Research with Family Medicine?

  • Research through practice-based research networks.
  • Gain new insight into the ambulatory care setting.
  • Find out what takes place in the setting where most people receive their care.
  • Find out how to improve care at the level of the clinical setting.
  • Understand your patients.
  • Ask and answer important questions.
  • Contribute to evidence-based research and knowledge.
  • Learn how to do research in your clinical setting.
  • Publish your research.
  • Fulfill your MSA requirements.

What Research Opportunities Are There in Family Medicine?

Practice-based Research Networks

  • High Plains Research Network (HPRN) focuses on providing excellent rural health care
  • Colorado Research Network (CaReNet) seeks to improve health care of disadvantaged populations
  • Building Investigative Practices for Better Health Outcomes (BIGHORN) seeks to enhance the quality, safety, efficiency, and accessibility of health care
  • These networks emphasize patient safety, practice redesign, and practice behavior change.

Effectiveness and Outcomes Research

  • Colorado Health Outcomes program (COHO) conducts and evaluates interventions that improve population health and the overall quality of health.
  • Compare costs and effectiveness associated with pharmaceuticals and devices.

Healthcare Informatics

  • Study health information exchange.
  • DARTNet - the Distributed Network for Ambulatory Research in Therapeutics - examines innovative uses for electronic health records to advance primary care and for research and surveillance.

Health Policy

  • Study public health. For example, help with an annual assessment of the performance of a state tobacco control program.
  • Community research: work with communities (such as the Greater Stapleton area) to improve population health with community leaders and residents
  • Examine health behavior counseling costs and reimbursement.

Family Physicians Inquiries Network (FPIN)

  • Help develop resources unique to the needs of family physicians.
  • Co-author a PEPID answer through a critical appraisal of literature.
  • Work with FPIN authors and editors to keep medical content up to date.
  • Contribute to Palm or Pocket PC tools for primary care physicians for point-of-care use.

Learn More About DFM Research

Review our list of recent publications.