General practice activity in Australia 2003-04

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General practice series no. 16

This publication is the 16th 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 sixth year of the BEACH program, April 2003 to March 2004. Data reported by 1,000 general practitioners on 100,000 GP-patient encounters are used to describe aspects of general practice in Australia: the general practitioners and their patients; the problems managed and the treatments provided. Information is also reported on body weight to height ratio, smoking status and alcohol use of a subsample of patients. Changes in relative rates of selected problems and management techniques between 1999-00 and 2003-04 are also investigated. Data for each of the last five years of BEACH are summarised in the appendix to this report.

Authored by Britt H, Miller GC, Knox S, Charles J, Valenti L, Pan Y, Henderson J, O'Halloran J & Ng A.

Published 6 December 2004; ISSN 1442 3022; AIHW cat. no. GEP 16; 198pp.; OUT OF PRINT

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Full publication  (1.2M PDF)

  • Preliminary material (195K PDF)
    • Half title, title and verso pages
    • Foreword
    • Contents
    • List of tables
    • List of figures
    • Acknowledgments
    • Summary
  • Sections 1-7 (316K PDF)
    1. Introduction
      1. The advantages of BEACH
      2. Aims
    2. Methods
      1. Sampling methods
      2. Recruitment methods
      3. Data elements
      4. The BEACH relational database
      5. Statistical methods
      6. Classification of data
      7. Quality assurance
      8. Validity and reliability
    3. The general practitioners
      1. Results of recruitment
      2. The participating GPs
      3. Computer use at GP practices
      4. Comparison of participating and non-participating GPs
      5. Discussion
      6. Trends in characteristics of GPs
    4. Representativeness
      1. Comparison of BEACH GPs with GP population
      2. Sample weights
      3. Comparison of BEACH consultations with all GP consultations in Australia
      4. The weighted data set
    5. The encounters
      1. Overview of the data set
      2. Encounter type
      3. Changes from 1999-00 to 2003-04
    6. The patients
      1. Patient characteristics
      2. Patient reasons for encounter
      3. Changes from 1999-00 to 2003-04
    7. Problems managed
      1. Number of problems managed at encounter
      2. Age-sex-specific rates of problems managed
      3. Nature of morbidity
      4. Changes from 1999-00 to 2003-04
  • Sections 8-13 (395K PDF)
    1. Overview of management
    2. Medications
      1. Source of medications
      2. Prescribed medications
      3. Medications advised for over-the-counter purchase
      4. Medications supplied by GPs
      5. Changes from 1999-00 to 2003-04
    3. Non-pharmacological management
      1. Number of non-pharmacological treatments
      2. Clinical treatments
      3. Procedural treatments
      4. Changes from 1999-00 to 2003-04
    4. Referrals and admissions
      1. Number of referrals and admissions
      2. Most frequent referrals
      3. Problems that were referred
      4. Changes from 1999-00 to 2003-04
    5. Investigations
      1. Pathology ordering
      2. Imaging ordering
      3. 12.3 Changes from 1999-00 to 2003-04
    6. Selected topics-changes over time
      1. Method
      2. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and the management of arthritis and other musculoskeletal problems
      3. Anti-depressant medications and the management of psychological problems over time
      4. Asthma inhalant medications and management of asthma problems over time
      5. Lipid lowering agents and the management of lipid disorders over time
      6. The management of diabetes over time
  • Sections 14-16 (223K PDF)
    1. Patient risk factors
      1. Background
      2. Methods
      3. Body mass index
      4. Smoking
      5. Alcohol consumption
      6. Risk factor profile of adult patients
      7. Changes from 1999-00 to 2003-04
    2. Discussion
      1. Methodological issues
      2. Comparing BEACH data with those from other sources
    3. Conclusion
      1. Current status of BEACH
      2. Access to BEACH data
  • End matter (references, glossary and abbreviations) (171K PDF)
    • References
    • Glossary
    • Abbreviations
  • End matter (appendixes) (670K PDF)
    • Appendixes
      1. Example of a 2003-04 recording form
      2. GP characteristics questionnaire for 2003-04
      3. Code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS
      4. Chronic code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS
      5. Summary of annual results 1999-00 to 2003-04
      6. Dissemination of results from the BEACH program

Notes and corrections

  1. There has been an update to the introduction and to table 7.4. (7 June 2005)