General Practice Activity in Australia 2012-13

General Practice Series No. 33

Helena Britt, Graeme C. Miller, Joan Henderson, and Clare Bayram

Regular price $30.00 Sale

Format: paperback
212 pages
ISBN: 9781743323779

Publication: 11 Nov 2013
Series: General Practice Series
Publisher: Sydney University Press

The book provides a summary of results from the 15th year of the BEACH program, a continuing national study of general practice activity in Australia.

From April 2012 to March 2013, 978 general practitioners recorded details about 97,800 GP-patient encounters, at which patients presented 152,278 reasons for encounter and 152,517 problems were managed. For an 'average' 100 problems managed, GPs recorded: 66 medications (including 54 prescribed, six supplied to the patient and six advised for over-the-counter purchase); 11 procedures; 24 clinical treatments (advice and counselling); six referrals to specialists and three to allied health services; orders for 30 pathology tests and seven imaging tests.

A subsample study of more than 31,000 patients suggests prevalence of the following measured risk factors in the attending adult (18 years and over) patient population: obesity - 26 per cent; overweight - 34 per cent; daily smoking - 17 per cent; at-risk alcohol consumption - 27 per cent. One in four people in the attending population had at least two of these risk factors.

A companion publication, A Decade of Australian General Practice Activity 2003-04 to 2012-13 is also available.

Clare Bayram is a research fellow at the Family Medical Research Centre at the University of Sydney, and project manager of the BEACH program.

Graeme Miller is an associate professor and Medical Director of the Family Medicine Research Centre at the University of Sydney.

Helena Britt is a professor of primary care research at the University of Sydney.

Joan Henderson is the Deputy Director of the Family Medicine Research Centre at the University of Sydney.

List of tables
List of figures
Summary

1. Introduction
2. Methods
3. The sample
4. The participating GPs
5. The encounters
6. The patients
7. Problems managed
8. Overview of management
9. Medications
10. Other treatments
11. Referrals and admissions
12. Investigations
13. Patient risk factors
14. FEATURE – type 2 diabetes

15. SAND abstracts and research tools

References

Abbreviations

Symbols

Glossary

Appendix 1: example of a 2012–13 recording form

Appendix 2: GP characteristics questionnaire, 2012–13

Appendix 3: patient information card, 2012–13

Appendix 4: code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS