Clinical encounters of Australian general practice registrars with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients
General practice is central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care, and this area is a core element of Australian general practice (GP) training. We aimed to describe the prevalence, nature and associations of GP registrar encounters with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients....
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Published in | Australian and New Zealand journal of public health Vol. 40; no. S1; pp. S75 - S80 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Australia
Elsevier B.V
01.04.2016
Elsevier Limited Elsevier |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | General practice is central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care, and this area is a core element of Australian general practice (GP) training. We aimed to describe the prevalence, nature and associations of GP registrar encounters with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.
A cross‐sectional analysis from a cohort study of GP registrars’ clinical consultations 2010–2013. Registrars record demographic, clinical and educational details of consecutive patient encounters. Multivariable associations were tested with logistic regression.
A total of 592 registrars contributed data from 69,188 consultations. Encounters with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients comprised 1.0% of consultations. Significant positive associations included younger patient age; new patient to the registrar; lower socioeconomic status of practice location; non‐urban practice setting; more problems managed; and follow‐up arranged. A greater proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients’ problems were psychological/social and a lesser proportion were cardiovascular. Consultation duration did not differ between the two groups
GP registrars encounter Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients less than do established GPs. Our results suggest possible variability in registrar experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
Our findings will inform training of a culturally and clinically competent workforce in this area. |
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Bibliography: | The authors have stated they have no conflict of interest. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1326-0200 1753-6405 |
DOI: | 10.1111/1753-6405.12412 |