Continuing medical education needs for local general practitioners.

A survey was conducted of the expressed continuing medical education needs of a group of 64 suburban general practitioners attached to a South Australian Hospital. The top five stated urgent and necessary training needs were acute and emergency disease management, diabetes management, terminal care, dermatology and medicine. The form of CME most preferred was patient/clinical practice and the greatest barriers to CME were stated as lack of time and loss of income. Practitioners with less than 10 years experience significantly chose training in ear, nose and throat (p < 0.01), rheumatology (p < 0.01) (Fisher's exact test, two-sided), compared with more experienced practitioners. Those in group practice significantly chose training in orthopaedics (p < 0.01, Fisher's exact test, two-sided) and the management of change (p = 0.037, Fisher's exact test, one-sided) more than solo practitioners while female practitioners significantly expressed the need for ante natal care training (Chi square = 8.85; df = 1; p < 0.01).

Who do people talk to about healthy lifestyles? A South Australian survey.

To investigate who people talk to about healthy lifestyle a personal interview of people in a representative sample of South Australians was carried out. The information was collected by interview from all occupants of selected private dwellings who were aged 15 years or older. The interviewer used a prompt card with nine possible responses and the question asked was "which one of these would you be most likely to talk about healthy lifestyle changes?" Forty-four per cent nominated the general practitioner and 22% a family member. People who were either married or in a de facto relationship (30%) significantly chose a general practitioner more than others (14%) (P < 0.05). In the 30-59 age group more men (12%) than women (6%) chose a family member as a healthy lifestyle adviser (P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in interest in healthy lifestyle in people born in Australia and outside Australia, or in the employed or unemployed. It is suggested that further attention needs to be paid to training in preventive medicine at all levels of general practice education and more needs to be known about the role of family members as healthy lifestyle advisers.

Health of a team competing in the 1990 World Solar Car Challenge.

The health of a team participating in the 1990 World Solar Car Challenge was recorded for 10 of the 11 race days. Morbidity was collected during daily consultations with the team doctor and the diagnoses were later converted to the ICPC code. Team members' self-perceived health status was also recorded daily, using the Nottingham Health Profile. Team drivers consulted the doctor more often than the support staff and the three full-time drivers had significantly more diagnoses than the support staff. The Nottingham Health Profile scores on sleep, energy and emotional reactions showed correlations between higher minimum temperatures and sleep for all team members and for the three full-time drivers, there were significant correlations between increasing maximum temperatures and emotional reaction scores. The morbidity records and perceived health scores reflect the conditions of the race. Twenty-five per cent of full-time driver consultations dealt with skin, eyelid or finger infections probably caused by the lack of washing water. The scores on sleep and emotional reactions were affected by temperature and previous research reports degradation in concentration and dual tasks with increasing temperature. This may account for the difficulty some drivers had in continuing their shifts. Close supervision of the drivers and the recording of their perceived health status helped reduce the health problems of the team.

A new hospital general practice teaching unit.

The formation of the latest General Practice Teaching Unit in an Australian hospital is part of a national trend to teach undergraduates and post-graduates about some parts of general practice using patients separated at triage from the accident and emergency departments. Planning this unit required much negotiating between several institutions and a set of guidelines on organisational relationships was created. Innovative features of the Modbury General Practice Teaching Unit include payment of teachers to attend compulsory medical education workshops, dividing the Family Medicine Programme trainee's time between the unit and a neighbouring practice and payment of non-academic general practitioner teachers by the South Australian Government, which eliminates the risk that service interferes with teaching. The Modbury General Practice Teaching Unit is currently the only hospital based unit of this kind in South Australia.

The proposed general practice descriptors--will they influence preventive medicine?

The proposed descriptor bill to change Medicare rebates to general practice patients could have a benefit to general practice preventive medicine. This seems possible through rewarding practitioners who spend more time with their patients and the positive effects of continuing medical education. However, the potential exists for whittling away any rewards for these practitioners by future governments and the audit of general practices could become a method of political control of Australian general practice.