Framework and training to support remote & rural research

Rural practice is ripe for some great research opportunities.  Encouraging and enabling quality research in remote and rural Scotland would bring a number of benefits, including recruitment & retention, and stronger evidence base for rural-proofing other interventions, and a useful perspective of ‘generalist practice’.

There’s a great programme – 6 for 6 – at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada, that provides a significant boost to rural research – by offering year-long research ‘fellowships’ which come with pragmatic support to researchers, and an effective springboard on which subsequent research can be founded.

In Scotland, we’ve seen a number of bodies set up to support primary care research, and it would be great to see some of this resource invested in the opportunities that present in Scottish rural practice: entities such as the Scottish School of Primary Care, the Scottish Primary Care Research Network, the Scottish School of Rural Health & Wellbeing, the Rural Health & Wellbeing Group of UHI and the Centre for Rural Health, amongst others.

Take a look at the video, and visit their website.  6 for 6 seems to be a great model on which further leadership and enablement could be achieved for rural primary care research in Scotland.