What is a PBRN?
As defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), primary care Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs) are “a group of ambulatory practices devoted principally to the primary care of patients, and affiliated in their mission to investigate questions related to community-based practice and to improve the quality of primary care.” Traditionally, PBRNs are found in physician office settings, but pharmacy/pharmacist-based PBRNs are becoming increasingly common. As the role of pharmacists expands, so does the need and desire for pharmacists to partner in practice-based research.
Practice-Based Research Networks:
- Bring together practitioners and researchers to collaborate on practice-related projects.
- Facilitate collaborations that are sustained beyond any one project.
- Examine research questions that are applicable to and ensure relevance to real-world practice.
- Foster rapid dissemination and utilization of project findings in practice.
- Enhance sample sizes and generalizability of findings.
For more information about PBRNs, see http://pbrn.ahrq.gov/.
What kind of projects can community
pharmacy-based PBRNs be involved with?
Here are publications describing community pharmacy practice-based research networks and associated projects.
- Community pharmacies as practice-based research network sites: Models of success. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association 2014;54(5):568.
- Drug errors and related interventions reported by United States clinical pharmacists: the American College of Clinical Pharmacy practice-based research network medication error detection, amelioration and prevention study. Pharmacotherapy 2013;33(3):253-65.
- Collaborations to facilitate success of community pharmacy practice-based research networks. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association 2008;48(2):153-62.
- Pharmacy practice-based research networks: Why, what, who and how. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association 2008;48(2):142-52