In an effort to ensure that the Pediatric Research Consortium (PeRC) is meeting the needs of Children's Hospital's practice-based research network (PBRN), clinicians and practices, we recently conducted an online survey of all physicians, nurse practitioners and managers within the network.

On Feb. 8, 2007, 215 surveys were distributed by e-mail. Responses were received from all but two practices (94 percent) in the network with a total response rate on an individual basis of 40 percent (n = 86). The majority of sites had more than one respondent. The survey was limited to seven questions consisting of Likert scale, ranking and free text answers and took only a few minutes to complete.

The principal findings can be summarized as follows:

• The majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that participation in the PBRN is important for their practices.
• The majority agreed or strongly agreed that the continuing medical education presentations offered by PeRC and the principal investigators of PBRN studies are relevant to their practices.
• In the cases where a site did not participate in a study, the three main barriers cited were time constraints, limited personnel and lack of clinical pertinence.
• Three areas of suggested additional research were ranked very highly:
• Prevention and treatment of obesity
• Management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Management of mental health issues
• Many of the studies currently being conducted by PeRC focus on these important clinical areas. Click here to learn more about active research studies.

We will use the recommended clinical topics when soliciting future studies that have clinical relevance for completion within the network.

Our efforts in the upcoming year will focus on incorporating these responses into our policies and procedures, improving communication within the network, and supporting pertinent clinical research requested by the clinicians and staff in the PeRC network.

Click here to view the full survey results in PDF format.