Dr Susan Dovey, Visiting Fellow Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute INSIDE THE LINNAEUS COLLABORATION: Doing General Practice research in an international group

Overview  The Linnaeus Collaboration What it is Where it came from Where it’s going  Tensions Single country versus international research priority? Funding  Pluses, Minuses, and Compromises Leverage Collegiality Misunderstandings / misinterpretations Pragmatic challenges

What is the LINNAEUS Collaboration? L earning in an IN ter N ational group A bout E rrors and U nderstanding S afety

Linnaeus countries  Australia  Canada  England  Germany  The Netherlands  New Zealand  The United States

Where the Linnaeus Collaboration came from  A Time  A Knowledge Gap  Recognition of knowledge gap  Crystallising the idea

“Lesson drawing” from international research  Describing and clarifying problems and determining whether they are commonly experienced in more than 1 country  Identifying the range of approaches used in different countries to address problems  Developing a theoretical model of how an intervention addresses a problem  Testing the model in different countries and understanding how the contexts of individual countries affect performance of the model

… where the Linnaeus Collaboration came from Resonance Mates

Serendipity in forming the PCISME team  Me in the US  Steven in the US  Walter in Canada  Martin in the UK  Murray in New Zealand  Michael in Australia  Chris in the Netherlands  Not Korea  Ferdinand in Germany

What we’ve done so far  The Primary Care International Study of Medical Errors Protocol and planning early 2001 Data collection late 2001 First paper out in AUSTRALIA in 2002 (Makeham, et al) Papers in GERMANY in 2003 Papers accepted in other countries Full study report not yet accepted for publication Second study planning in 2003  Annual meetings  Discussion papers and documents

Tensions in International research  Has to be in a research priority area for more than 1 country  Funding in individual countries versus funding for an international project or program  Sovereignty

The Good Things about international research  More understanding of other countries and cultures  More understanding of your own country and culture  Greater exposure to new ideas  Being able to collect data 24 hours a day  Glamour

The Bad Things about international research  Misunderstandings  Communication and communication technology  Research leadership and time commitment  Extended analysis stage  Publication and authorship

The Compromises in international research  Study design – e.g. sample size  Study topic  Take the time it takes to collaborate  Accept long authorship lists

Key Messages  Know why you need to do international research before you start  Then follow the Nike Motto JUST DO IT

Thank You