Engagement of primary care practice in Australia: learnings from a diabetes care project

Effective community-based chronic disease management requires general practice engagement and ongoing improvement in care models. This article outlines a case study on contributing factors to insufficient participant recruitment through general practice for an evidence-based diabetes care pilot project. Key stakeholder semi-structured interviews and focus groups were undertaken at cessation of the pilot project. Participants (15 GPs, five practice nurses, eight diabetes educators) were healthcare providers engaged in patient recruitment. Through descriptive analysis, common themes were identified. Four major themes were identified: (1) low perceived need for intervention; (2) communication of intervention problematic; (3) translation of research into practice not occurring; and (4) the service providing the intervention was not widely viewed as a partner in chronic disease care. Engaging GPs in new initiatives is challenging, and measures facilitating uptake of new innovations are required. Any new intervention needs to: be developed with GPs to meet their needs; have considerable lead-in time to develop rapport with GPs and raise awareness; and ideally, have dedicated support staff within practices to reduce the demand on already-overburdened practice staff. Feasible and effective mechanisms need to be developed to facilitate uptake of new innovations in the general practice setting.