Lessons from initiating the first Veterans Health Administration (VA) Women's Health Practicebased Research Network (WH-PBRN) study

Background: the veterans health administration (va) women's health practice-based research network (wh-pbrn) was created to foster innovations for the health care of women veterans. the inaugural study by the wh-pbrn was designed to identify women veterans' own priorities and preferences for mental health services and to inform refinements to wh-pbrn operational procedures. addressing the latter,this article reports lessons learned from the inaugural study. methods: wh-pbrn site coordinators at the 4 participating sites convened weekly with the study coordinator and the wh-pbrn program manager to address logistical issues and identify lessons learned. findings were categorized into a matrix of challenges and facilitators related to key study elements. results: challenges to the conduct of pbrn-based research included tracking of regulatory documents; cross-site variability in some regulatory processes; and troubleshooting logistics of clinic-based recruitment. facilitators included a central institutional review board,strong relationships between wh-pbrn research teams and women's health clinic teams,and the perception that women want to help other women veterans. conclusion: our experience with the inaugural wh-pbrn study demonstrated the feasibility of establishing productive relationships between local clinicians and researchers,and of recruiting a special population (women veterans) in diverse sites within an integrated health care system. this identified strengths of a pbrn approach.