The importance of evidence based medicine in improving clinical care has been emphasised significantly in recent years.¹ Opportunities to conduct research within emergency care, however, have been restricted by time and financial constraints as well as a lack of a research tradition.² Research networks in primary care have enabled healthcare professionals to conduct research despite similar difficulties.³ Recognising this as a possible approach to developing and providing support for research in emergency care, funding was sought to develop a local emergency care network. With funding from the Southampton University Hospitals’ Trust Strategic Research Fund, the Wessex Emergency Care Research and Development Network (WECReN) was launched in October 2001. This paper reports on the activities and experiences of the network in its first year. Reflections and recommendations on the role of networks in the support of research in emergency medicine are provided.

THE NEED FOR RESEARCH IN EMERGENCY MEDICINE

The organisation and delivery of emergency services has been the subject of much scrutiny and change in recent years. Reports such as the Audit Commission’s review on accident and emergency departments⁴ and the Department of Health’s publications on Reforming Emergency Care^5,6 further emphasise the need for high quality research on current service provision and mechanisms for service development and improvement. In addition, clinical governance necessitates effective dissemination of evidence to ensure that clinicians access the most up to date evidence from research.⁷

While emergency medicine research has been successfully developed in the USA, it is still in its infancy in the UK.⁸ Funding is increasingly being awarded to emergency care research, but it is still some way from being a research discipline in its own right. This …