After-hours primary care

After-hours primary care has the potential to improve consumer access to services and reduce the burden on hospital emergency departments. This RESEARCH ROUNDup outlines the function of five models of after-hours service provision, discusses Australian examples of after-hours services and presents information regarding each model’s effectiveness and shortcomings

Primary health care and social networking: opportunities to enhance communication

The use of social networking technologies in health care and education is known as Health 2.0. Health 2.0 incorporates principles of open access, user-generated content and networking in order to personalise health care, collaborate and promote health education. Social networking technologies that are relevant to primary care include blogs, microblogging websites such as Twitter, wikis and podcasts. This RESEARCH ROUNDup focuses on the ways in which a range of emerging information and communication technologies can improve collaboration between primary health care professionals and across health care sectors

Social media: Opportunities to enhance communication and collaboration between Allied Health and other primary health care professionals

This poster asks how do allied health and other primary health care professionals currently use social media technologies? the current limitations and challenges and future directions

eHealth technologies in primary health care: current strengths and limitations

eHealth aims to improve the quality and safety of Australia’s health system by introducing a more efficient way to collect and share information such as prescriptions and test results. The primary health care sector could benefit substantially from the widespread use of eHealth technologies. The National E-Health Transition Authority is currently working with numerous stakeholders, including general practitioners and allied health professionals to develop an eHealth uptake plan. This RESEARCH ROUNDup focuses on the use of eHealth technologies in primary health care, by exploring the benefits and current limitations of a number of eHealth tools

Divisions Performance Indicator Report 2009-2010: Closing the gap

This report presents a thematic analysis of qualitative data regarding activities undertaken as part of the Closing the Gap program, provided by the Divisions of General Practice for the 2009-2010 reporting period

Fact Sheet: Writing great abstracts

An abstract is a short piece of writing that presents the essential elements of a larger work in a powerful manner. If you are having trouble writing them and need guidance, or want to improve your abstracts writing skills then this Fact Sheet is a must for you

Potentially avoidable hospitalisations in Australia: causes for hospitalisations and primary health care interventions

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) described potentially avoidable hospitalisations (PAHs) as “admissions to hospital that could have potentially been prevented through the provision of appropriate non-hospital health services”. The AIHW classify PAHs into three main types: vaccine-preventable, chronic, and acute conditions. In 2009-10, PAHs related to chronic conditions were the most common, due mainly to the high rates of hospitalisations for diabetes complications (24% of all PAHs). Moderately high rates of PAHs were also reported for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), dehydration and gastroenteritis, and dental conditions (9-10% of all PAHs)

Earthquake preparedness in South Australia: recommendations based on previous earthquakes in Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America

The Australian Journal of Emergency Management by AIDR is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.Adelaide is the most earthquake-prone capital city in Australia, with earthquakes of a magnitude five to six on the Richter scale occurring frequently enough to be a potential danger. This paper explores the short and long-term physical and psychological consequences of earthquakes that have occurred in settings comparable to metropolitan Adelaide in order to make recommendations in terms of the lessons learned. The danger posed by unreinforced masonry buildings in Adelaide is highlighted and the importance of effective communication and collaboration between local and national providers of essential services is discussed. The paper concludes with recommendations, including the development and rehearsal of emergency plans, community education and preparedness, planning for longer-term health outcomes and availability of practical and financial support

Spanish influenza of 1918–19: the extent and spread in South Australia

“This article is reprinted with permission of the Australasian Epidemiological Association”The 1918–19 Spanish influenza was the first pandemic for which official records were compiled in South Australia. This followed the recognition of the disease as notifiable under the Public Health Act and the establishment of a surveillance system by the then South Australia Central Health Board (a precursor to the current South Australian Health Department). This is the first paper to describe the Spanish influenza epidemic for South Australia from an epidemiological and geographical perspective. Notification numbers were retrieved from the South Australian Central Health Board meeting records. Data were entered into an Excel spreadsheet and Epi™info 7 software to enable a geographical analysis. There were 8,839 influenza notifications: of these, 4,854 (55.0%) originated from metropolitan areas (Attack Rate 9.9 per 1,000 population) and 3,985 notifications (45.0%) originated from regional areas (Attack Rate 8.0 per 1,000 population). There was a lack of comprehensive epidemiological data due to the still developing surveillance system. This restrained more in-depth analysis of risk factors and geological spread

Potentially Avoidable Hospitalisations: Causes, Initiatives and Challenges from a Primary Health Care Perspective

The presentation will- • highlight some of the risk factors for potentially avoidable hospitalisations in Australia (e.g., sociodemographic characteristics, chronic conditions) based on a literature review • explore common characteristics of successful initiatives addressing potentially avoidable hospitalisations generally (e.g., integrated services, multidisciplinary teams, access, disease management) • illustrate promising interventions to specifically reduce avoidable hospital readmissions (e.g., identifying high-risk patients, education, discharge planning, follow-ups) • discuss challenges in addressing avoidable hospitalisations