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ReportWatch: Patient-based substudies from BEACH

Abstracts and research tools 1999-2006

On Wednesday 25 July 2007 the Australian GP Statistics and Classification Centre, University of Sydney, a collaborating unit of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released a new report:

Patient- based substudies from BEACH: abstracts and research tools 1999-2006.

This is the 20th report in the general practice series. It differs markedly from the annual BEACH reports that summarise the data about the GPs and content of encounters each year.

This report provides abstracts for, and research tools used, in 104 general practice substudies conducted as part of the BEACH (Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health) program. Samples range from about 1,500 to 12,000 patients.

BEACH is a continuous national study of general practice activity. Since 1998 over 9,000 GPs have recorded details regarding approximately 900,000 GP-patient encounters on structured paper forms.

The substudies are referred to as SAND (Supplementary Analysis of Nominated Data). There is a SAND section at the bottom of every encounter form, in which we investigate aspects of patient health or health care delivery not covered by the encounter-based data.

The authors hope that this report will assist GPs and other researchers by providing them with:

• a central source of results for a wide range of studies of patients attending GPs
• a wide range of tools that
• have demonstrated acceptability and utility
• can be used in the confines of a general practice patient consultation
• have already been approved by recognised ethics committees.

These 104 study reports will provide interesting reading for anyone involved in general practice research.

The report is available for purchase ($35) through the AIHW web site <www.aihw.gov.au> or can be downloaded free of charge from the web.

A speedy link to the document (on the AIHW web site) is available on the home page of <www.fmrc.org.au/>

Reference
Britt, H., Miller, G.C., Henderson, J., Bayram, C. 2006. Patient- based substudies from BEACH: abstracts and research tools 1999-2006.