Aust Fam Physician
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General practitioners' concerns about medicolegal issues have been shown to influence the practice of medicine. This research looks at GPs' beliefs about medicolegal issues and how medicolegal concerns affect their practice. ⋯ This study found that GPs' concerns about medicolegal matters impact on their practise of medicine. While greater awareness of medicolegal issues may lead to positive impacts, the negative impact of their concerns is that some changes arise from anxiety about medicolegal matters rather than from the exercise of good clinical judgment.
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Interest by prescribers and pharmacists in the provision of individualised pharmaceutical therapy in the form of compounded medicines has grown in recent times. However, there have also been a number of case reports of patient harm associated with these medicines. ⋯ Regulators of pharmaceutical products have expressed concerns with the production, marketing and use of compounded medicines dispensed by pharmacists. This has prompted debate over the need for more regulation of these products. We propose an expansion of off label prescribing guidelines to include a risk based assessment of pharmaceutical quality, a consumer information/education strategy and the development of a code of practice for pharmacists engaging in compounding. These strategies recognise a shared responsibility among prescribers, dispensers and regulators to achieve contemporary quality, safety, and efficacy standards and support the quality use of compounded medicines.
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This study investigated the reasons for low uptake of Medicare Benefits Schedule rebated health assessments for Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders in mainstream general practice in the Australian Capital Territory region. ⋯ Barriers to the uptake of health assessments include low levels of routine identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients, little awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander specific GP mediated health interventions, and lack of support for preventive health interventions targeted on the basis of Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander status. Poor uptake is likely to persist without a more strategic approach to overcoming these barriers.
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The terms 'cultural safety' and 'cultural competence' are used widely in indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse health contexts. They form the basis for effective patient centred care and the professional advocacy role of the general practitioner. ⋯ Cultural safety is the experience of the recipient of care. It is comparable to clinical safety, allowing the patient to feel safe in health care interactions and be involved in changes to health services. It has been suggested that cultural safety training may be one mechanism to reduce disparities in indigenous health status. Cultural competence is a broader term that focuses on the capacity of the health system to improve health and wellbeing by integrating culture into the delivery of health services.
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On 24 March 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the leader of the Federal Opposition, and health sector leaders signed a pledge to close the indigenous health gap by 2030 and the equity gap in health service provision by 2018. This is a big challenge - Indigenous Australians have a life expectancy 17 years less than non-Indigenous Australians and a burden of disease 2.5 times higher.