Project:
Professor Justin Beilby
Professor of General Practice and Executive Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences and Chris Holton, Research Fellow, Discipline of General Practice, University of Adelaide

Funding:
National Health and Medical Research Council Primary Health Care Project Grant

Project:
Professor Nicholas Zwar,
Professor of General Practice, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales

Funding:
National Health and Medical Research Council Primary Health Care Project Grant

Australia has a high prevalence of asthma and there is evidence that proactive management and care planning can improve health outcomes.

In 2001, the Australian Government introduced the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan to better support asthma care. However, the model of care implemented had never been
formally tested and participation in the program began to decline.

University of NSW researchers collaborated with local GPs to investigate why this was the case and found the major barriers to greater uptake were the complexity and administrative work of the program, as well as the requirement for a patient to have three visits in four months.

The NSW researchers, working in partnership and parallel with the University of Adelaide, also implemented a study to examine models of systematic asthma care similar to the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan.

The study included the use of a register-recall system to prompt 565 patients to see their GP for an asthma management review. Only one-third of patients attended and, although the majority felt it was worthwhile, the study found no significant overall change in their care or health outcomes.

This partnership between two university general practice disciplines produced an evidence base about how the Asthma 3+ program could be modified to improve its feasibility and effectiveness.

The original research had a considerable impact on policy and the future of the program. Its recommendations were consistent with changes made by the Commonwealth, which simplified the program to increase its use among GPs and their patients.

View the Beilby project abstract on ROAR

Conference presentations

Holton, C., Crockett, A., Ramsay, E., Beilby, J., Harris, M., Proudfoot, J., Harper, C., Ruffin, R. (2006). Does regular review for asthma provide any benefits? Australian Asthma Conference, Adelaide, October.

Holton, C., Crockett, A., Ramsay, E., Beilby, J., Harris, M., Proudfoot, J., Harper, C., Ruffin, R. (2006). Systematic practice-based asthma care in the Australian setting. Proceedings of the World Conference of the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG). Oslo, Norway, June.

Holton, C., Crockett, A., Ramsay, E., Beilby, J., Harris, M., Proudfoot, J., Harper, C., Ruffin, R. (2006). Does systematic care for asthma work? General Practice and Primary Health Care Research Conference, Perth, July.

Holton, C., Beilby, J., Harris, M., Harper, C., Proudfoot, J., Lokhorst, J., Crockett, A., Ruffin, R. (2005). Introducing systematic frameworks into practice organisation to achieve improvement in asthma management. General Practice and primary Health Care Research Conference, Adelaide, July.

Harper, C., Holton, C., Beilby, J., Harris, M., Proudfoot, J., Lokhorst, J., Crockett, A., Ruffin, R. (2005). Lessons learnt about recruitment in general practice trials. General Practice and primary Health Care Research Conference, Adelaide, July.

References

Zwar, N., Comino, E., Hasan, I., Harris, M., on behalf of the Primary Health Care Research network (2005). General practitioner views on barriers and facilitators to implementation of the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan. Medical journal of Australia, 183(2): 64-67.