About WREN
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Mission
The mission of the Wisconsin Research and Education Network (WREN) is to improve health outcomes for the people of Wisconsin through education, and through promoting and conducting primary care research in partnership with primary care clinicians and the communities they serve.
Size and Scope
Founded in 1987, WREN is one of the oldest and most respected practice-based research networks in the United States. As of 2006, WREN's membership comprises:
- More than 130 clinicians
- More than 20 healthcare organizations
- 37 communities
WREN members are distributed across Wisconsin in an array similar to the distribution of the state's population.
Approximately 50 WREN members are individuals from clinics and practices across the state. The remaining members represent WREN's four full-support clinics: Lake Tomah Clinic (Tomah), Medical Associates Clinic (Dubuque), Mile Bluff Clinic (Mauston), and Osceola Medical Center (Osceola).
Future Directions
WREN has secured funding through the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (UW SMPH) Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) federal grant. This will allow WREN to support translational research projects at participating practices.
Dissemination of translational research results can then be blended into quality enhancement projects, resulting in improved health care processes and practices. These process improvements, in turn, can result in improved patient safety, patient satisfaction and health outcomes.
Additional future development will include:
- Recruiting additional practices to increase the participation of underserved populations;
- Pilot testing a secure web-based data/project management system currently being developed as part of the UW CTSA grant;
- Developing collaborative projects with the Wisconsin Network for Healthcare Research (WiNHR);
WREN has an enthusiastic group of practicing clinicians and academic family physicians with the expertise to conduct high-quality translational research in practices across the state of Wisconsin. With recent infrastructure support from the UW SMPH and the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians, WREN is poised to become an agent of change in how medicine is practiced in Wisconsin and beyond.
