Repeat prescribing safety survey.

INTRODUCTION Repeat prescribing is an accepted part of general practice activities in New Zealand and in many developed countries. However, there has been little research on how this service is used in New Zealand, or on clinicians' attitudes towards it. AIM To discover the opinions of vocationally registered general practitioners (GPs) and general practice registrars regarding repeat prescribing, availability of practice policy and mechanisms for issuing such prescriptions. METHODS A survey was developed by an expert group and shared through the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners' (the College) weekly newsletter, epulse, inviting members to participate in the survey. The survey was also emailed to registrars. RESULTS In total, 144 vocationally registered GPs and 115 registrars responded (n=259), giving a response rate of 3.2% for GPs and 12.7% for registrars. Patient convenience and time efficiency for the practice were the most commonly cited reasons for repeat prescribing. Registrars had low awareness of practice policy on repeat prescribing and only one-quarter of practices had an orientation pack that contained advice on repeat prescribing. DISCUSSION Better practice systems are likely to improve the safety profile of repeat prescribing and should be addressed. There is substantial unwanted variability currently in these practice systems.

Te Wero tonu-the challenge continues: Maori access to medicines 2006/07-2012/13 update.

AIM: Analysis of dispensings of prescription medicines in New Zealand in 2006/07 reported large inequities between Maori and non-Maori. This present study has now updated the earlier work by describing variations in disease burden-adjusted medicines access by ethnicity in 2012/13, and changes over time. METHOD: The update has linked prescription medicine data with burden of disease estimates by ethnicity for 2012/13 and comparing with 2006/07. This has re-examined the shortfall in prescriptions for Maori vs non-Maori adjusting for age, population and burden of disease (ie, health loss, in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)). RESULTS: After adjusting for age, population and burden of disease, large inequalities still existed for Maori compared with non-Maori, with generally no improvement over the six years. In 2012/13, Maori had 41% lower dispensings overall than non-Maori; this was nominally worse compared with the 37% relative gap in 2006/07, but the trend was not statistically significant. Many complexities and limitations hamper valid interpretation, but large inequities in access and persistence, across many therapeutic groups, remain. The full University of Auckland report details these inequities. CONCLUSION: Large inequities in medicines access for Maori continue. Inequities in access are unacceptable, their causes likely complex and entrenched; we believe they need deeper understanding of systems and barriers, pragmatic ways to monitor outcomes, and an all-of-sector approach and beyond. PHARMAC has committed to strategic action to eliminate inequities in access to medicines by 2025, recognising it needs partners to drive the necessary change. Kei a tatou tonu katoa te wero kia mahikaha, kia mahi tino mohio, me te mahitahi (The challenge continues for us to work harder, work smarter, and work together); everyone in the health sector has a role.

Validation of the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS) in a New Zealand young driver population.

The Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale, the BYNDS (Scott-Parker et al., 2010), is a reliable and valid self-report 44-item instrument which explores the frequency of a breadth of risky driving behaviours which appear to place young and novice drivers at an increased risk of road crash injury. As part of a larger collaborative research project, the Australian-developed BYNDS was piloted in a sample of 20 young New Zealand drivers n=14 aged 16-18 years, 9 males; n=6 aged 19-24 years, 2 males. The wording of 21 BYNDS items was modified to reflect the cultural context of the participating New Zealand drivers. The refined BYNDS was applied in a sample of 325 young drivers n=116 aged 16-18 years, 65 males; n=209 aged 19-24 years, 98 males, and the factor structure examined, including exploratory factor analysis for each gender. The 5-factor structure of the BYNDS was supported, with young drivers reporting considerable engagement in risky driving exposure, moderate engagement in transient violations and mood-related driving, and less fixed violations and driving misjudgements. Risky driving exposure was predictive of self-reported crash involvement for both males and females, suggesting targeted intervention regarding when, and the circumstances under which, the young driver is on the road.

What is the value and impact of the safety World Conference? Evaluators' reflections of safety 2012.

Using survey and documentary information collected as part of an evaluation of the 2012 conference, this paper reflects upon the value of the 2012 World Conference to attendees of the event. The results are discussed in the context of questions about what the purpose of conference is to the world injury prevention community and how they are organised. The evaluators challenge the community and future organisers to clarify what the purpose of these events are to better inform future evaluation activities.