General practice activity in Australia 2001-02

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General practice series no. 10

This publication gives results of the fourth year of the BEACH program, April 2001 to March 2002. Data reported by 983 general practitioners on 98,300 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 sub sample of patients. An overview of almost 1,000 encounters with Indigenous patients provides an indication of the role of GPs in provision of care to these people. Changes in characteristics of GPs, their patients and the encounters are also report for the period April 1998 to March 2002.

Authored by Britt H, Miller GC, Knox S, Charles J, Valenti L, Henderson J, Pan Y, Bayram C & Harrison C.

Published 5 December 2002; ISSN 1442 3022; ISBN-13 978 1 74024 217 2; AIHW cat. no. GEP 10; 211pp.; $20.00

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Full publication (2.54M PDF)

Preliminary material (123K PDF)
- Title page and verso
- Foreword
- Contents
- List of tables
- List of figures
- Acknowledgments
Sections
1. Introduction (57K PDF)
  1. Aims
2. Methods (145K PDF)
  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 (157K PDF)
  1. Results of recruitment
  2. The participating GPs
  3. Comparison of participating and non-participating GPs
  4. Discussion
  5. Trends in characteristics of the GPs 1998-2002
4. Representativeness (140K PDF)
  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 (130K PDF)
  1. Overview of the data set
  2. Encounter type
  3. Significant changes from 1998-99 to 2001-02
6. The patients (285K PDF)
  1. Patient characteristics
  2. Patient reasons for encounter
  3. Significant changes over the years 1998-99 to 2001-02
7. Problems managed (159K PDF)
  1. Number of problems managed at encounter
  2. Nature of morbidity
  3. Significant changes from 1998-99 to 2001-02
8. Overview of management (179K PDF)
  1. Significant changes from 1998-99 to 2001-02
9. Medications (333K PDF)
  1. Source of medications
  2. Prescribed medications
  3. Medications advised for over-the-counter purchase
  4. Medications supplied by general practitioners
10. Non-pharmacological management (158K PDF)
  1. Clinical treatments
  2. Procedural treatments
11. Referrals and admissions (147K PDF)
  1. Number of referrals and admissions
  2. Most frequent referrals
  3. Problems that were referred
12. Investigations (161K PDF)
  1. Pathology ordering
  2. Imaging ordering
13. Patient risk factors (214K PDF)
  1. Background
  2. Methods
  3. Body mass index
  4. Smoking
  5. Alcohol use
  6. Risk behaviour profile of adult patients
  7. Changes in patient health risk behaviours since 1998-99
14. Changes over time for problem, medication and treatment rates (50K PDF)
  1. Method
  2. Changes in annual management rates of problems between 1998-99 and 2001-02
  3. Changes in medication rates between 1998-99 and 2001-02
  4. Changes in other treatments between 1998-99 and 2001-02
15. Selected topics - changes over time (399K PDF)
  1. Method
  2. Anti-depressant medications and the management of psychological problems over time
  3. Lipid-lowering agents and management of lipid disorders over time
  4. Asthma inhalant medications and the management of asthma problems over time
  5. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and the management of arthritis and other musculoskeletal problems
  6. Antibiotics and the management of acute upper respiratory tract infection
16. Encounters with Indigenous people (202K PDF)
  1. Number of encounters
  2. The general practitioners
  3. Patient characteristics
  4. Characteristics of the encounters
  5. Morbidity and management
  6. Patient reasons for encounter
  7. Morbidity managed
  8. Discussion
17. Discussion (90K PDF)
  1. Overview of results
  2. Methodological issues
  3. Comparing BEACH data with those from other sources
18. Conclusion (85K PDF)
  1. Current status of BEACH
  2. Access to BEACH data
End matter (reference list, glossary and abbreviations) (65K PDF)
- Reference list
- Glossary
- Abbreviations
End matter (appendixes)
- Appendixes
  1. Example of a recording form (1.1M PDF)
  2. GP characteristics questionnaire (87K PDF)
  3. Code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS (154K PDF)
  4. Summary of annual results 1998-99 to 2000-02 (137K PDF)