The 94th EGPRN meeting was held live in Istanbul, Turkey from 12 to 15 May 2022. The topic of the meeting "Optimizing the organization of family medicine practice" was linked to some of the recent changes in the way that general practice is delivered.
262 participants from 33 countries were present at the meeting in Istanbul, where they had the opportunity to participate in, and contribute to a number of group meetings and different session formats including workshops, theme and freestanding paper presentations, poster presentations, and a special “elevator pitch” session for new research ideas.
The scope, number and quality of the submitted papers was a testament to the interest of GPs in research and the relevance of the theme of the meeting. The event was also honored with the presence of many colleagues from all over Turkey and neighboring countries.
Thought-provoking lectures were given by the keynote speakers Prof. Zalika Klemenc Ketis on “Assessing the quality of primary care delivery” and by Prof. Mehmet Akman on “Establishing primary care; Turkey and Azerbaijan Primary Care Organization”. The lectures, encompassing both contemporary and historic reflections, kept the audience engaged and stimulated a fruitful discussion.
Collaborative study groups that operate under the umbrella of EGPRN had the opportunity to meet face-to-face to discuss their research results and plans and possibly recruit new members to extend their reach to new countries and primary care settings.
This year, the conference featured skills-building workshops. “How to read a paper: critical appraisal skills for randomized controlled papers” and “Project Planning & Proposal Writing Workshop”, alongside a special feature workshop “Operational research in primary care: Opportunities for collaboration”, aimed at showcasing interdisciplinary research methodologies while building international research collaborations.
The Theme and Freestanding Paper sessions were once again presented and received in the typical EGPRN format and stimulated thoughtful questions from the audience. This comprehensive and wide-ranging programme enabled the participants to discuss a variety of topics as well as to provoke discussions which widened the scope on different views and approaches to common issues, and provided the presenters with constructive feedback to progress their research.
This year Tobias Deutsch and the team from Department of General Practice, Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Germany were awarded the poster prize for their study called “Walking a mile in grandpa’s (online) shoes - Very simple PDF-based online aging game equivalent enhances medical students’ understanding for elderly patients.
Registration for participants from Ukraine was free of charge and some Ukrainian participants were able to join some of the sessions online.
EGPRN is recognized within the WONCA community as an organization with focus on research supporting early career doctors to start their academic development. In EGPRN, a culture of inclusiveness, sharing and collaboration is cherished, and lots of effort is put towards breaking barriers and providing great opportunities and experiences to new EGPRN members which helps them become a part of the research community and build capacity to formulate their research ideas and develop their potential.
Vanja Lazić,
On behalf of the EGPRN PR committee
Radost Asenova
Tiny van Merode
Ana Luisa Neves
Ayse Caylan
Tuomas Koskela
Sanda Kreitmayer