Update from the

IMSANZ Research Network

Motivated by the potential in enhanced collaboration and the IMSANZ commitment to ‘encouraging research’, the IMSANZ Research Network (IMSANZ-RN) working committee was formed in July 2021. By surveying IMSANZ members we found that research activities were highly prevalent, diverse and under resourced. Furthermore, there was majority support for the formation of IMSANZ-RN. The results of this scoping survey served as a mandate to progress the IMSANZ-RN and the results have been published in the Internal Medicine Journal.  The mission was determined: To promote collaborative research within general medicine that delivers evidenced-based and meaningful outcome improvements for our patients and the health-system.

2023 brought much awaited excitement for the IMSANZ-RN.  The IMSANZ Board officially approved the IMSANZ-RN’s governance structure, terms of reference and research proposal submission processes, and a number of research submissions have been approved by the Steering Committee.

The IMSANZ-RN was officially introduced at the IMSANZ 2023 NZ Conference in Masterton in March, and a workshop held at the IMSANZ 2023 Conference in Cairns to facilitate discussion on the benefits and challenges of forming clinical trial networks. Additionally, the recent IMSANZ Trainee Day included a research education/training session, relevant to trainee research project requirements, with plans for regular research related inclusions in the annual trainee day programme.  The IMSANZ-RN is also working closely with General and Acute Care Medicine Advanced Training Committee at RACP to ensure that the proposed processes align well with advanced training research project requirements and supervision.