Category 1. The Southern Primary Care Research Network (SPCRN) is being created at the time of this application. The network's underlying practice structure relies on the long-standing teaching clerkship sites affiliated with the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG). Twenty-two practice sites in 18 counties are included throughout the state of Georgia and one in South Carolina. Preceptors all have clinical faculty appointments at MCG and receive financial incentive in the amount of $1950 per student per six week rotation. The patient population is largely poor (16 of 18 counties with poverty rates greater than the state rate which is 14.7 percent vs. the national rate of 11.8 percent), rural (17 of the 18 counties are designated as medically underserved), and reflective of a substantial proportion of African Americans (state rate of 28.7 percent, practice site rate estimated at 37 percent). The network's research focuses upon the areas of health promotion/disease prevention and access to care. Proposed infrastructure development includes: 1) an expanded web-based data collection site, 2) partial financial support for a master's level Network Coordinator to monitor research projects and travel to sites for periodic """"""""live"""""""" encouragement, and 3) creation of a point-of-care data collection system using evolving PDA technology. Category II. The proposed pilot project seeks to test the effectiveness of a handheld computer communication system to increase the translation of research evidence into practice in the area of obesity management. Physicians, practicing at randomly assigned intervention or control sites, will receive obesity treatment updates either to their PDAs (intervention) or via tradition e-mail only (control). Transmitted information includes current guidelines and new findings in obesity treatment. Measurement by patient and physician questionnaires and patient chart audit for weight management content will occur pre/post in both conditions with a follow-up after 6 months. Effectiveness of such technology-driven physician behavior change programs has substantial implications for translational research in all arenas.
