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 What are PURLs?

 

Priority Updates from the Research Literature Surveillance system

The PURLS system was developed in a collaborative partnership of the Family Physicians Inquiries Network (FPIN) and The Journal of Family Practice as an objective of the University of Chicago Institute for Translational Medicine, funded through a Clinical Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health. We have developed a knowledge translation system called PURLs that exclusively targets newly published research expected to actually change family medicine and primary care practice. Here's a link to the PURL methodology published in JABFM.

PURLs generate new evidence-based recommendations for practice for primary care clinicians. PURLs are stimulated by the publication of new research that meets criteria for a new recommendation to change practice. The completed PURLs are published in JABFM (The Journal of  the American Board of Family Medicine) as well as EBP (Evidence-Based Practice). 

What are the criteria for PURLs?

Each PURL must meet six criteria:

  1. Relevant: Relevance to family medicine and primary care.
  2.  Valid: Scientific validity, including integration of prior research.
  3. Change in Practice: Leads to a change from the current prevailing practice.
  4. Applicable to Medical Care: The new practice approach is applicable in a medical care setting.
  5. Implementable: The new practice is immediately applicable.
  6. Clinically Meaningful: Expected benefits outweigh expected harms.

What is the purpose of the PURLs Surveillance System?

The purpose of the PURLs Surveillance System is to engage communities of clinicians and methodologists in the identification, evaluation, and dissemination of PURLs; and to accelerate the translation of new research findings into clinical practice.

What sources are used to nominate Potential PURLs?

The PURL surveillance team, a volunteer group of family medicine clinicians, nominates articles from over 40 primary journals and secondary sources. The nomination listserv consists of over 50 clinicians around the country who weigh in on the PURL hood of nominations.


In addition, nominations are accepted from any peer-reviewed medical journal or pre-synthesized evidence-based source. Our goal is to identify every research study that should lead to a change in practice for family clinicians and other primary care clinicians so if we have missed any studies through our formal surveillance systems, we want to hear about them. If we have missed a study we will review it and seriously consider it as a PURL.

Contact the PURLs Project Manager at [email protected], for more information.