[Courses in basic research methodology a valuable asset for clinicians. Twelve years' experiences in southern Sweden]

At the Department of Community Medicine at Lund University we have given courses in basic research methodology since 1989. The course has yielded 20 points of university credit, the equivalent of one full-time semester of studies, and it has been run part-time, covering one and a half years. Our aim has been to provide a large number of physicians with basic training in research methods, and to stimulate the engagement of new scientific students from the whole Southern Health Care Region. During the first ten years, 138 general practitioners (20% of the GPs of the region) and 202 specialists completed our courses. Up till now, 19 GPs (14%) and 19 specialists (9%) have begun PhD studies. During the last two years, another 100 physicians from southern Sweden have attended our courses, as well as GPs from Zealand in Denmark. We have been developing our course in basic research methods during a twelve-year period, and it is now well established in our health care region. We feel that we have succeeded in reaching the two goals we had set up: to give a large number of physicians a fundamental knowledge of research methods and to recruit and increase the number of PhD students. We believe that medical research and development must flourish also outside the traditional university settings.