The South African Sentinel Practitioner Research Network Organization, Objectives, Policies and Methods

Abstract

The establishments of the South African Sentinel Practitioner Research Network (SASPREN) is an exciting development within primary care research in this country SASPRENs a network of general practitioners who have volunteered to conduct ongoing research in their practices. Such networks have mushroomed in a number of countries within the 1st decade. They potentially have a key role in promoting the understanding of illness seen in primary care and improving the quality of care of such conditions. Secondly, by making possible the surveillance of certain conditions, they are able to make an important public health contribution. Thirdly, they provide much needed, primary care data useful for undergraduate and post-graduate medical training. Finally, good quality information emerging from sentinel research networks have begun to challenge conventional wisdom regarding the management of certain medical problem. This trend is likely to enhance the stature of the discipline of family medicine within the medical community. This paper aims to provide the reader with an overview of the basic organisation, policies and methods of SASPREN.