Marcus Butler
15 September 2015: Students interested in the improvement of quality of care provided by general practitioners (GPs) can now apply for a PhD scholarship to investigate what lessons can be learnt from top-performing practices.
Health organisation, Ochre Health is offering a $27,000-a-year scholarship through the University's Health Research Institute (UC-HRI) to look into why some GPs provide better overall patient care than others.
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A PhD scholarship is on offer to investigate potential improvements to the quality of care provided by Australia’s general practitioners. Photo: Michelle McAulay
Ochre Health operates numerous health clinics and has developed Canberra's only GP super clinic within the University's Health Hub.
Ochre Health co-founder and director of medical services, Hamish Meldrum said the focus of the three-year scholarship will be on improving the quality of patient care when they see a GP.
"Ochre Health operates 35 regional and remote medical clinics and has collected data from across those sites. There's a lot of information for a PhD candidate to access and begin to shape the way GP services are delivered," Dr Meldrum said.
“This is a very topical area of health policy at the moment with a review of primary care service with the Federal Governments Healthier Medicare Initiative and the formation of the Primary Health Care Advisory Group. This is likely to be an area of Federal policy reform over the next decade.”
The research project will also involve qualitative analysis of the views of GP clinic staff, including doctors, as well as assessing their workspaces and collaborations.
UC-HRI director Rachel Davey said the scholarship is a chance for someone to extend their research career and an opportunity to deliver better health outcomes to a wide section of the Australian population.
"One of UC-HRI's research themes focuses on healthcare systems and health services research. This PhD scholarship is one way that we can help deliver in that area and hopefully see better patient outcomes in the long run," Professor Davey said.
The successful candidate will work under the supervision of international expert in Primary health Care - Professor Stephen Campbell from the Institute of Population Health, Centre for Primary Care at Manchester University, who is seconded to the University of Canberra.
Information about the scholarship is available through the UC-HRI website. Applications for the scholarship close on 30th November 2015.
