Practice Research Networks
CarePaths eRecord sponsors Practice Research Networks (PRNs) through its collaboration with research and clinical training organizations. Currently, CarePaths is sponsoring a number of PRNs, e.g. the Association of Directors of Psychology Training Clinics (http://adptc.clinicprn.org), Family Service of Canada (http://www.fsc.clinicprn.org), the Outdoor Behavioral Health Industry Council (http://obhic.clinicprn.org), and the National Association of Therapeutic Training Schools (http://natsap.clinicprn.org).
Practice research networks offer a group of organizations the opportunity to pool data for a variety of purposes, including quality improvement and benchmarking, advocacy, and clinical research. Borkovec, for instance, writes that PRNs are needed now in clinical psychology because of the “increasing pressure to produce evidence that therapies we provide are in fact beneficial” and to answer “society’s questions about the effectiveness of psychotherapy.” In primary care settings, PRNs can help to identify barriers to effective mental health practice and promote best practices. PRNs can also advance basic science by carrying out rigorous experimental investigations in naturalistic settings that allow for unambiguous conclusions about effectiveness.
CarePaths also participates in a number of other research initiatives and NIMH sponsored research. CarePaths users can participate in research should they be interested.
CarePaths enables any user, solo practitioner or clinic, to benchmark their clinical outcomes results against comparative norms. Using nationally recognized instruments such as the OQ 45, OQ 30, YOQ, Mental Health Advisor-30 and others, participants can find out how effective they are in comparison to their peers. Practice evaluation is a powerful quality improvement tool. Clinicians can use the data to demonstrate to referral sources, payers and others, the effectiveness of their services.
