Authors

MethodWe analysed GP encounters with children aged <15 years that were collected in the Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) program from April 2000 to March 2003 and April 2012...

Pregnancy is commonly managed in general practice.1 In contrast to the UK, Canada and New Zealand, where general practitioner (GP) involvement in pregnancy care has decreased, GPs in Australia...

General practitioners (GPs) are the gatekeepers to our healthcare system and provide the majority of health services to the estimated 23.3 million residents in Australia.1 In 2013–14, government...

Alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs in Australia. According to the 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), about four out of five Australians aged ≥14 years consumed...

A rapid rise in the treatment of chronic wounds in the United States has been linked to an ageing population and an increasing incidence of diabetes and obesity.1 In Australia, we also have an...

A 2002 United States survey indicated that most doctors (83%) choose topic areas for continuing medical education programs that constitute a significant part of their regular practice.1 While GPs...

Patients with schizophrenia tend to present with physical complaints at a later, more serious stage. They also have a significantly higher incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, coronary heart...

Effective communication between general practitioners (GPs) and their patients is essential to the provision of high-quality care and the best health outcomes for patients. Criterion 1.2.3 of The...

Of the encounters with patients who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, 63% were with patients aged less than 45 years and 37% were aged 45 years or older; the average age was 36...

Men’s health is often described in terms of male-specific (sexual and reproductive health) problems, but it is their broader health behaviours and use of health services that contribute to their...

The general practice workforce required for Australia in the future will depend on many factors, including geographic areas and patient utilisation of general practice services.

We sought to investigate whether similar patterns of GDM existed in Australian general practice using the BEACH data. Between April 1998 and March 2013, 14 770 GPs collected information on 419 785...

Each year on average in the BEACH (Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health) program, GH has been managed at 6.7 per 100 000 recorded general practice encounters (about 670 times a year...

We analysed 2123 encounters with infants aged less than 4 months – recorded between January 2010 and December 2011 – for RFE, problems managed and type of management provided. About 1% of BEACH...

There was one infertility/subfertility problem managed at each of the 652 encounters: 81.6% with female patients and 18.4% with male. Infertility/subfertility was most commonly managed for patients...

Asthma is among the most commonly managed chronic problems in general practice.1 About 2.3 million Australians (10.2%) had asthma in 2011–12, a significantly lower prevalence than in 2001 (11.6%).2...

Chronic heart failure is a clinical syndrome associated with unpleasant symptoms such as shortness of breath, ankle swelling and fatigue.1 In Australia, the National Health Survey reported an...

BackgroundService in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) can be physically and mentally demanding. A report on the mental health of current serving personnel found they had a similar prevalence of...

Basal cell carcinomas made up the majority (56.8%) of NMSC problems managed: squamous cell carcinoma accounted for onethird, and skin carcinomas unspecified made up about 10% of these conditions...

Health services research on general practice that aimed to improve the function of practice and quality of care dates from the seminal ethnographic study of English general practice by Australian...

This paper reports on the proportion of patients with multiple chronic conditions at GP encounters, using data from a 2008–2009 BEACH 
sub-study that measured the prevalence of chronic conditions.4...

This lack of information led us to design a sub-study of the BEACH program, surveying 2654 patients from 91 general practitioners in late 2012, to determine the prevalence of NP among patients seen...

Published literature provides information about the prevalence of obstetric and gynaecological problems in the population. Many of these conditions are more prevalent in specific age groups. For...

General practice is the cornerstone of primary care in Australia. The computerisation of general practice has placed general practitioners (GPs) at the forefront of moves to use the pooled data...

Figure 1 demonstrates a relatively steady increase over the decade in the number of thyroid function tests ordered for every 100 problems managed, from 1.1 (95% CI: 1.0–1.2) per 100 problems in...

In this article we report changes in the GP management rate of psychological problems at encounters with patients aged 6–11 years (inclusive), annually over 13 years (April 2000–March 2013). These...

The internet could be an effective additional source of health information for patients. Although there is an abundance of literature about online health information seeking and its benefits...

Plantar fasciitis (PF) is reported to be the most common cause of chronic inferior heel pain.1 Risk factors include obesity, occupations with prolonged standing, pes planus, limited ankle...

More than 500 000 encounters were recorded in BEACH over the study period and 12 380 of those encounters were with patients who had a repatriation health card. Half of these veterans (50.2%) were...

In BEACH (Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health), between April 2007 and March 2012, PE was managed at only 28 per 100 000 encounters with adult male patients. In December 2008 to January...

Younger GPs were more likely to be female, hold FRACGP, be an Australian graduate and work in a group practice. Older GPs were more likely to manage patients who: were male, were aged 45+ years...

From 2003–04 to 2011–12 in the BEACH (Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health) program, information was collected on 879 400 encounters from 8794 GPs. At least one psychological problem was...

In both time periods, male and female patients were referred at similar rates. In 2008–11, adult patients were significantly more likely to be referred to A&E than in 2003–07. While...

In both time periods, male and female patients were referred at similar rates. In 2008–11, adult patients were significantly more likely to be referred to A&E than in 2003–07. While A&E...

Rheumatoid arthritis was managed 716 times in the two-year period, at four in every 1000 encounters, and made up 0.2% of all problems managed. About three-quarters of patients (77.5%) at RA...

By way of comparison, the age-standardised incidence of melanoma (2004–2008) was 48.7 per 100,000 persons in Australia – highest in Queensland (64.3) and lowest in the Northern Territory (30.5).3...

Figure 1 shows the patient characteristic-specific rate of SRCs. Patients aged 15–24 years had the highest likelihood of having an SRC, followed by those aged 25–44 years. Patients from regional...

We examined the likelihood of general practitioners (GPs) ordering at least one of three coeliac/gluten-associated tests (CGATs) at BEACH GP–patient encounters in Australia in April 2000–March 2014...

General practice has always been the cornerstone of Australia’s healthcare system. Almost all Australians (85%) visit a general practitioner (GP) at least once in any given year,1 and GPs act as...

From April 2012 to March 2013, general practitioner (GP) BEACH participants recorded the current smoking status of 32,276 patients aged ≥18 years. Over half of the patients had never smoked and one...

Travel advice and vaccination for general practice patients before their travel was investigated in a sub-study of the Bettering the Evaluation And Care of Health (BEACH) program in May and June...

IntroductionType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) occurs when there is an inadequate secretion of insulin in response to varying degrees of overnutrition, inactivity, consequential overweight or obesity,...

Physiotherapists are the fifth largest health workforce group in Australia. In 2014, there were 11,608 full-time equivalent physiotherapists working in private practice.1,2 In Australia...

When compared with the BEACH average, patients seen at work related encounters were more likely to be male (54.8% vs 39.1%) than female (44.3% vs 60.9%). The age distribution of patients at work...