Clinical networks and clinician retention: the case of CDN.

Since the mid-1980s, clinicians working in community and migrant health centers formed clinical networks to provide administrative and clinical training, regular interaction with peers, and opportunities for participation in policy formulation. The subject of this article is the most developed of the regional clinical networks, the Clinical Directors Network of Region II (CDN). CDN was created in 1985 to meet the needs of clinicians working at health centers in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Its activities since that time suggest the potential of clinical networks to help to create professionally satisfying work experiences for health center clinicians and thus to increase clinician retention. The creation of CDN is described and its training and research activities are discussed within the context of the universe of health center clinical networks and practice-based research networks.