Developing an educational curriculum in primary care with practitioner and manager involvement: the governance shackle.

This article describes what happened when we attempted to set up an educational development project to design a syllabus and implementation strategy for GP education in England. Grounded in good practice our approach involved consultations with a range of relevant professionals. Because we adopted a rigorous approach to the definition of our plans and to the recording of data collected we attracted research ethics and research governance attention.

The place of 360 degree appraisal within a team approach to professional development.

The role of appraisal within professional development has assumed a higher profile in response to national policies including those relating to clinical governance and workforce development. Under the guidance of a service development manager trained in human resource management, a new interprofessional Primary Care Practice Team near Cambridge defined and implemented a new appraisal system drawing on the principles of 360 degree appraisal. The appraisal system was designed to support the service function and the team culture, and took into account good management practice and the requirements of partner organizations and professional affiliations.

What happens next? Evaluation of a scheme to support primary care practitioners with a fledgling interest in research.

Introduction: Various initiatives have been implemented in recent years to support primary care practitioners new to research. We describe the evaluation of one particular scheme, the NHS Eastern Region Primary Care R&D Enterprise Award Scheme, and discuss the implications of the results for future policy.

Methods: Representatives from both the funders (NHS R&D) and the award holders were involved in the design of an evaluation questionnaire and in the interpretation of the results.

Of rocks and safe channels: learning to navigate as an interprofessional team.

A new interprofessional primary care team was established in a greenfield site. Using anethnographic approach, significant experiences in the formation of the team were documented and specific problem areas were defined and addressed using action research principles. The nature of the problems experienced and the processes used in their resolution are described and related to current policy recommendations and to existing literature on the theory and practice of team development.

A Research Information Sheet for Practices (RISP): a tool to facilitate research participation.

Background: Practice teams may receive many requests to become involved in research studies. The information they receive may not necessarily provide the information they need to make a quick and informed decision about participation. Facilitating good decisions about research involvement has potential value for researchers, practitioners and research/development managers.