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General practice tool kit

Your practice premises

Clinical equipment

Table of contents

Supplementary material

Last revised: 24 Oct 2019

Equipment requirements

Your practice will need enough equipment to provide comprehensive clinical care and emergency resuscitation. The RACGP Standards for General Practices provides a list of equipment that practices need for accreditation against the standards.

You will need to decide whether your practice will provide equipment for doctors to use, or whether doctors will need to provide their own equipment. If each doctor has to provide their own equipment, you must tell them this before they join the practice.

In addition to the equipment specified in The Standards, you might purchase additional equipment so that:

you cater for particular patient needs, based on your location and population
you don’t need to refer patients to other service providers.

For example:

audiometry
ECG
spirometry
vascular Doppler ultrasound
slit lamp
ultrasound
point-of-care testing
ear suction
cryotherapy
clinical photography.

Consider purchasing digital technologies that are available (eg digital ECG and digital spirometry equipment), as these can deliver benefits for your doctors and patients.

RACGP Standards

GP5.2 A Our practice has equipment that enables us to provide comprehensive primary care and emergency resuscitation, including:

auriscope
blood glucose monitoring equipment
disposable syringes and needles
equipment for resuscitation (ie equipment for maintaining an airway for adults and children, and equipment to assist ventilation, including bag and mask)
intravenous access
emergency medicines
examination light
eye examination equipment (eg fluorescein staining)
gloves (sterile and non-sterile)
height measurement device
measuring tape
equipment for sensation testing
ophthalmoscope
oxygen
patella hammer
peak flow meter
PPE
pulse oximeter
scales
spacer for inhaler
specimen collection equipment
sphygmomanometer (with small,medium and large cuffs)
stethoscope
surgical masks
thermometer
torch
tourniquet
urine testing strips, including pregnancy testing kits
vaginal specula
visual acuity charts
the ability to view X-rays.

GP5.2 B Our practice maintains our clinical equipment in accordance with each manufacturer’s recommendations.

GP5.2 D Our practice has timely access to a spirometer and electrocardiograph.

GP5.2E Our practice has a defibrillator.

View the standards >

Doctor's bag

All GPs should have the required equipment to make home and other visits, and to help in emergencies that occur in the direct vicinity of the practice.

A fully equipped doctor’s bag gives GPs immediate access to core equipment, medicines and stationery so that they can provide the necessary care in these situations. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) also provides certain medications for doctor’s bags.

Each bag must be stored securely and in accordance with state and territory laws.

How many bags?

The size of your practice will determine how many bags your practice might require. You might have one per doctor, or they might share bags.

RACGP Standards

GP5.3 A Each of our GPs has access to a fully equipped doctor’s bag for routine visits and emergency care, containing:

auriscope
disposable gloves
equipment for maintaining an airway in adults and children
in-date medicines for medical emergencies
practice stationery (including prescription pads and letterhead)
sharps container
sphygmomanometer
stethoscope
syringes and needles in a range of sizes
thermometer
tongue depressors
torch.

View the standards >

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