The first project of the Nebraska Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network will focus on the relationship between patient activation and the management of weight.
Dr. Jennifer Larsen, vice chancellor for research at UNMC, says the new association is made up of 10 practices across the state, both rural and urban.
Larsen says doctors from these practices will work together on projects to help improve patient care in each of their offices.
Dr. Rob Schwab is one of the doctors participating in the network. He says the first step involves understanding and measuring patient activation.
"We will identify patients as they come into the clinic and ask them if they want to participate or not. And then we will administer this survey looking at patient activation and some of the barriers regarding control of their weight. And that’s pretty much what the patient activation involves is a patient basically having the ownership of their own health care and that varies from patient to patient.”
Larsen says once the group has collected enough patient activation data, they will meet to discuss what they want to do with the information.
She says because weight can affect so many different health issues, the group may choose to focus on one particular problem and come up with an intervention study for their next project.
The research is supported by grants from the Rural Futures Institute and the Nebraska Medical Association.