Australia’s primary health care research workforce

Abstract

Australian healthcare is on the brink of a significant reform process. While much is yet to be decided, two clear themes can be identified from the reform reports. The first is the importance of multidisciplinary team work in the primary health care (PHC) setting. The second is the importance of further developing and strengthening Australia’s PHC research sector, which is critical to inform its health policy and practice. These themes of a stronger multidisciplinary focus and a stronger PHC research sector reinforce each other, as clinical, health system and health services research increasingly needs to be undertaken by researchers from multiple disciplines and backgrounds