The Primary Care Research Unit (PCRU) is a partnership between Hunter Medical Research Institute and Hunter New England Central Coast Primary Health Network to strengthen research amongst primary health care professionals working across the Hunter, New England, Manning and Central Coast regions of NSW.
The Primary Care Research Unit is a growing community of primary health care professionals and partners working together to lead research and evaluation in clinical contexts to improve health outcomes for communities.
The focus of the Primary Care Research Unit is to support translational research and Quality Improvement (QI) activities. The term translational research describes research that enables the movement of knowledge from bench to bedside to community along the continuum from basic sciences research to population health research.1 QI is a systematic continuous approach that aims to solve problems in healthcare, improve service provision, and ultimately provide better outcomes for patients.2
The Hunter, New England, Manning and Central Coast region is vast in geographical terms, and diverse in terms of its communities. The Primary Care Research Unit supports the use of an evidence-based approach to primary health care delivery, including using emerging research findings to continually improve primary health care practice and delivery. This will, in turn, deliver greater coordination, better systems, and improved access to health care for the communities within the region.
1. Blumberg RS, Dittel B, Hafler D, von Herrath M, Nestle FO, 2012. Unraveling the autoimmune translational research process layer by layer. Nat Med; 18(1): 35–41. doi:10.1038/nm.2632.
Rabin BA, 2017. Terminology for Dissemination and Implementation Research. In: RC Brownson, GA Colditz, EK Proctor (Eds), Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health: Translating Science to Practice. Oxford Scholarship Online, doi:10.1093/oso/9780190683214.003.0002.
Vukotich CJ Jr, 2016. Challenges of T3 and T4 translational research. Journal of Research Practice; 12(2): P2.
2. Backhouse A, Ogunlayi F. Quality improvement into practice. BMJ 2020; 368: m865. doi:10.1136/bmj.m865.
The Primary Care Research Unit supports primary health care professionals in the following areas:
Grow research and quality improvement capacity and capability among primary health care professionals
Enable members to exchange knowledge, resources and ideas on research within the clinical space; and share best‑practice quality improvement approaches.
Build meaningful relationships and connections across the region’s primary health care workforce.
Provide a forum to discuss ‘wicked problems’ and co‑develop evidence‑based solutions.
Offer opportunities to hear from researchers and subject matter experts on topics relevant to primary care practice and improvement.
Communication pathway to advertise research opportunities in primary health care.
Submit an Expression of Interest to join the PCRU’s Research Community of Practice:
Submit an Expression of Interest to join the PCRU’s Research Community of Practice:
If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact the Primary Care Research Unit [email protected]
