Family Medicine Network (FaMe-Net) is the world’s oldest (1967) and still functioning primary care research network. With its long history of structured registration, FaMe-Net has built an efficient infrastructure for scientific research and is known for its highly accurate and uniform registration.

FaMe-Net general practitioners (GPs) provide regular care to their patients where all encounters are recorded, coded and made accessible for research and education.

The core concept in the FaMe-Net registration is to record all health problems and associated primary care interventions in an ‘Episode of Care’ structure. This means that all encounters associated to one health problem are described in one episode of care. The diagnosis of the episode of care can be adjusted based on the current clinical situation. In addition, the Reason For Encounter (RFE) is registered for each encounter. This is the patient’s statement of the reason for consulting the GP, for example a symptom, a self-diagnosis or a request for a specific intervention. By combining RFEs and diagnoses within an episode, outcomes (particular diseases or conditions) related to the initial presentation can be studied or predicted.

The terms Episode of Care and Reason For Encounter are explained in more detail in our infographic and in About FaMe-Net – How does FaMe-Net work?