General practice activity in Australia 2004-05

$28.00

Phone, fax or email orders:

CanPrint
Tel. 1300 889 873
Fax 02 6293 8333
Email

Read the related media release.

View other publications in the same series: General practice series.

View other publications by the same authors: Britt H, Miller GC, Charles J, Knox S, Valenti L, Henderson J, Pan Y, Bayram C, O'Halloran J & Ng A.

View other publications in the same subject areas: General practice & Safety and quality of health care.

General practice series no. 18

This publication is the 18th in the General Practice Series produced by the Australian General Practice Statistics and Classification Centre, a Collaborating Unit of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the University of Sydney. It reports the results of the seventh year of the BEACH program, April 2004 to March 2005. Data reported by 953 general practitioners on 95,300 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 that have occurred since 1998-99 are investigated. Aspects of the management of psychological problems, asthma, arthritis, lipid disorders and injuries are examined in greater detail. Data for each of the last five years of BEACH are summarised in the appendices to this report.

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

Published 6 December 2005; ISSN 1442 3022; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 517 3; AIHW cat. no. GEP 18; 152pp.; $28.00

View online for free

On this page:

Full publication  (903K PDF)

  • Preliminary material (220K PDF)
    • Half title, title and verso pages
    • Foreword
    • Acknowledgments
    • Contents
    • List of tables
    • List of figures
    • Executive summary
  • Sections 1-5
    1. Overview (172K PDF)
      • Background
      • The BEACH program
      • BEACH data and other national data sources
    2. Summary of changes from 1998-99 to 2004-05 (247K PDF)
      • Characteristics of the GPs
      • Encounter type
      • Characteristics of the patients at encounters
      • Patient reasons for encounter
      • Problems managed
      • Overview of management 1998-99 to 2004-05
      • Medications
      • Other treatments 1998-99 to 2004-05
      • Referrals 1998-99 to 2004-05
      • Test ordering 
      • Patient risk behaviours 2000-01 to 2004-05
      • Discussion
      • Conclusion
    3. Selected topics -- changes over time (196K PDF)
      • Topic selection
      • Methods
      • Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for arthritis and other musculoskeletal problems over time
      • Anti-depressant medications and the management of psychological problems over time
      • Asthma inhalant medications and management of asthma problems over time
      • Lipid-lowering agents and management of lipid disorders over time
      • The management of injuries over time 
    4. Annual results BEACH 2004-05 (402K PDF)
      • The sample
      • The general practitioner 
      • The encounters 
      • The patients 
      • Problems managed 
      • Overview of management 
      • Medications 
      • Other treatments 
      • Referrals and admissions 
      • Investigations 
      • Patient risk factors
    5. The encounters  (174K PDF)
      • Sampling methods
      • Recruitment methods
      • Data elements
      • The BEACH relational database
      • Statistical methods
      • Classification of data
      • Patient risk factor methods
      • Quality assurance
      • Validity and reliability
      • Methodological issues
      • Other BEACH applications
  • End matter (references, glossary and abbreviations) (174K PDF)
    • References
    • Glossary
    • Abbreviations
  • End matter
    • Appendices (257K PDF) 1
      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

Additional material

Appendices 3-6 (293K PDF) 1

  1. Code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS
  2. Chronic code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS
  3. Summary of annual results 1999-00 to 2003-04
  4. Dissemination of results from the BEACH program

Notes and corrections

The current version of the publication is presented above. Previous versions of files that have been updated or corrected are presented below.

  1. Appendices 3-6 were not available as part of the printed copy. (6 December 2005)