The proposal is submitted in response to RFA HS-01-004, Primary Care PBRNS: Competitive Continuations. The Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS) network has made significant progress on data management, minority and/or underserved population research, translation of research into practice, and predictable network funding. Most notably over the last year, PROS has: 1) implemented electronic data collection on the practitioner and practice surveys required for enrollment in the network; 2) expanded the number of minority practitioners and practitioners serving minority and underserved children in PROS; 3) published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals read by clinicians; and 4) maintained stable infrastructure funding.
The specific aim of the research portion of this project is replicate the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) in a sample of 40 practices from PROS and the National Medical Association Pediatric Section Network (NMA-PSN). This will be done in accordance with guidelines established in collaboration with other PBRNs and with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). PROS will use the standard practice recruitment and survey methodologies that it has established in collecting practice and clinician-level data in nearly a dozen other research studies. In addition, PROS is proposing to do additional pilot testing of electronic data collection in the network.
The specific aim of this portion of the project is to collect and compare NAMCS data in a separate sample of PROS and NMA-PSN practices, all of which have access to the World Wide Web. In this second data collection, PROS will use a two-group crossover design in which practices will serve as their own controls, collecting NAMCS data first either via the Web or by the traditional paper-and pencil method, and then switching to the other methodology. Analyses will compare the completeness, accuracy, and practitioner satisfaction with the two methods. In total, this project promises to help better define the PROS network, and to enhance health service research understanding of PBRN electronic data collection.
