The challenging path to establish general practice in an academic environment - the case of the Czech Republic

The academic development of general practice (GP) within countries of Central and Eastern Europe began only after the political changes in the 1990s. From a research perspective GP has a reputation for being amongst the least intellectually rigorous clinical disciplines. This has several serious consequences; loss of self-confidence, lack of attractiveness as an intellectual discipline and less application of critical thinking in routine clinical work. The only solution is an effort to develop research in primary care, as this is the ultimate attribute of scientifically oriented disciplines such as medicine. GP research in the Czech Republic has a low level of awareness and support. Its development is slow and faces many barriers; lack of financial resources, lack of leading personalities within the field, lack of ideas, lack of scientific education, lack of experience, and insufficient research capacity. As GPs, we do not have enough skills to write and publish scientific papers. Research is also not recognised as an essential component of GP training. However, research in primary care is developing and here I present several successful research projects within our department. Research has been proposed as a vital agenda towards the new concept of general practice, as recently presented to the government by the Society of GPs.