A comparison of family medicine research in research intense and less intense institutions

Background: Family medicine is a relatively new specialty that has been try ing to develop a research base for 30 years. It is unclear how institutiona l research success and emphasis have affected the research productivity of family medicine departments. Objective: To examine the research infrastructure, productivity, and barrie rs to productivity in academic family medicine in research intense and less intense institutions. Design, Setting, and Participants: A survey of 124 chairs among institution al members of the Association of Departments of Family Medicine. Department s were categorized as being associated with research intense institutions ( defined as the top 40 in National Institute of Health funding) or less inte nse institutions. Main Outcome Measures: Prioritization of research as a mission, number of f unded research grants, total number of research articles published, and num ber of faculty and staff conducting research. Results: The response rate was 55% (N=68). Of 5 potential ratings on the su rvey, research was the fourth highest departmental priority in both categor ies of institutions. Departments in research intense institutions were larg er, had more faculty on investigational tracks, and employed more research support staff (P<.05). Neither category of department published a large num ber (median=10 in bath groups) of peer-reviewed articles per year. Controli ng for the number of full-time equivalent faculty, the departments in less intense institutions published a median of 0.7 articles, while the research intense institutions published 0.5 (P=.30). Departments in research intens e institutions received more grant funding (P<.005) in both unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Chairs reported a scarcity of qualified applicants for r esearch physician faculty openings. Conclusion: Future initiatives should focus on prioritizing research and cr eating a critical mass of researchers in family medicine.