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released: 21 Dec 2000 media release

This publication is the fifth in the General Practice Series produced by the General Practice Statistics and Classification Unit, a Collaborating Unit of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the University of Sydney.It reports the results of the second year of the BEACH program, April 1999 to March 2000. Data reported by 1,047 general practitioners on 104,700 GP-patient encounters are used to describe aspects of general practice in Australia: the characteristics of general practitioners; the types of services they provide; the characteristics of patients who attend general practitioners; the problems managed at the GP-patient encounters and the management techniques adopted by the GPs. Information collected by the GPs on the wellbeing, body weight to height ratio, smoking status and alcohol use of sub-samples of patients are also included.

ISSN 1442 3022; ISBN 978 1 74024 093 2; Cat. no. GEP 5; 169pp.; OUT OF PRINT

General practice activity in Australia 1999-2000

Full publication

Publication table of contents

  • Preliminary material (59K PDF)
    • Title page and verso
    • Foreword
    • Contents
    • List of tables and figures
    • Summary
    • Acknowledgments
  • Chapters
    1. Introduction (112K PDF)
      1. Aims
    2. Methods
      1. The sample frame
      2. Sampling methods
      3. Recruitment methods
      4. Data elements
      5. The BEACH relational database
      6. Statistical methods
      7. Classification of data
      8. Validity and reliability
    3. The general practitioners
      1. Results of recruitment
      2. The participating GPs
      3. Comparison between participating and non-participating GPs
    4. Representativeness
      1. Comparison of BEACH GPs with the national GP population
      2. Comparison of BEACH consultations with all GP consultations in Australia
      3. Sample weights
      4. The weighted dataset
    5. The encounters
      1. Overview of the dataset
      2. Encounter type
    6. The patients (238K PDF)
      1. Patient characteristics
      2. Patient reasons for encounter
      3. The inter-relationship of RFEs with other variables
    7. Problems managed
      1. Number of problems managed at encounter
      2. Nature of morbidity
      3. The inter-relationship of problems managed with other variables
    8. Overview of management
    9. Medications
      1. Source of medications
      2. The inter-relationship of a medication with other variables
      3. Prescribed medications
      4. Medications advised for over-the-counter purchase
      5. Medications supplied by general practitioners
    10. Non-pharmacological management
      1. Clinical treatments
      2. Procedural treatments
    11. Referrals and admissions (162K PDF)
      1. Number of referrals and admissions
      2. Most frequent referrals
      3. Problems that were referred
      4. The inter-relationship of referrals with other variables
    12. Investigations
      1. Pathology ordering
      2. Imaging ordering
    13. Patient wellbeing and risk factors
      1. Background
      2. Methods
      3. Wellbeing
      4. Body mass
      5. Smoking
      6. Alcohol use
    14. Discussion
      1. Methodological issues
      2. Data collection from electronic health records
      3. Comparing BEACH data with those from other sources
    15. Conclusion
      1. Current status of BEACH
      2. Access to the BEACH data
  • End matter (86K PDF)
    • Appendixes
      • Appendix 1: Example of a recording form
      • Appendix 2: GP characteristics questionnaire
      • Appendix 3: Reasons for encounter and problems managed - code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS
      • Appendix 4: Clinical treatment - code groups from ICPC-2 PLUS
      • Appendix 5: Procedural treatment code groups from ICPC-2 PLUS
      • Appendix 6: Referrals - code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS
      • Appendix 7I: Pathology test orders - code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS
      • Appendix 8: Imaging test orders - code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC2 PLUS
    • Glossary
    • Abbreviations
    • Bibliography

Recommended citation

Britt H, Miller GC, Charles J, Knox S, Sayer GP, Valenti L, Henderson J & Kelly Z 2000. General practice activity in Australia 1999-2000. General Practice Series. Cat. no. GEP 5. Canberra: AIHW.