About our network
Canadian Primary Care Trials Network
Our network is committed to enhancing primary care science in Canada. Our focus is on improving patient and community health and conducting high-quality research to inform best practices, policies, and interventions in primary care, thereby contributing to improved health outcomes across diverse communities.
Our objectives
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Support researchers
Support primary care researchers to design, fund and lead trials
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Enhance knowledge translation
Enhance knowledge translation to policymakers, thereby directly impacting primary care practices and policies
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Standardize approaches
Standardize and share approaches to recruitment, consent, compensation, and data collection
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Bridge networks
Serve as a point of connection to other trial networks, research funders and policymakers, promoting collaborative efforts and knowledge sharing
We leverage a variety of resources and partnerships to support our research initiatives
Primary Care Practice-based Research Networks (PBRNs)
PBRNs play a crucial role, primarily focused on electronic medical record (EMR) data projects but increasingly expanding their support for clinical research. EMR data represents an invaluable resource within the network, facilitating participant identification, supporting sample size calculations, and enabling quasi-experimental or emulation studies.
Large Primary Care Randomized Control Trials (RCTs)
We draw upon the expertise and ongoing projects of large primary care RCTs such as SPIDER and SPARK. The CanTreatCOVID initiative, with the participation of more than 15 PBRNs, enhances our network’s capacity to address the specific challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Clinical research networks
Our network benefits from existing clinical research networks, often associated with PBRNs, such as the Pragmatic Trials Collaborative, POPLAR Clinical Research, and Réseau-1, which contribute to the network's collaborative strength. Funding from the Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCRN) and Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) bolsters our network’s financial resources, enabling the network to advance its research endeavours.
Institutional partnerships
We partner with the College of Family Physicians of Canada Section of Researchers (CFPC SoR) and the Applied Genomics in Primary Care and Prevention (AGAR) program. Moreover, we collaborate with TUTOR-PHC, contributing to the network's training and capacity-building initiatives.