Aust Fam Physician
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Somatisation is when physical symptoms develop through stress or emotional problems. Each year in the BEACH program (Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health), somatisation disorder is managed about 30 times in 100,000 encounters. Although it is rare for general practitioners to identify the problem managed as somatisation, over the 10 years of BEACH we now have 298 encounters where this occurred, and details of these encounters are shown below.
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A national chronic disease strategy has been described focusing on health promotion and lifestyle change, screening and evidence based disease management. The Lifescripts resources complement this strategy by focusing on health promotion and lifestyle change. ⋯ Effective indigenous health promotion requires appropriate tools for behavioural modification and community engagement. This involves a greater emphasis on the social determinants of health to reduce the barriers to healthy behaviours. The indigenous Lifescripts provide a flexible tool for health care providers in the indigenous health sector to deliver lifestyle related brief interventions that accommodate local community resources and support structures. However, to maximise their potential, a systematic approach to incorporating these tools into practice must be adopted.
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Asthma mortality rates in Australia have declined over the past 20 years but are not low by international standards. Evidence based guidelines such as the National Asthma Council's Asthma management handbook, Enhanced Primary Care financial incentives, and practice recall infrastructure can be utilised in general practice to manage patients with asthma. ⋯ Asthma is one of the Australian Government's chronic disease health priorities. To promote ideal asthma care and management, incentives such as the Asthma Cycle of Care, GP Management Plans and Team Care Arrangements have been instituted. However, trends in the use of these incentives must be maintained if we are to continue to reduce Australia's asthma mortality rate.
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In 2008, Australian Family Physician (AFP) was accepted on the list of journals listed in Science Citation Index Expanded and, thus, will generate an impact factor over the next 2 years. Impact factor is important to authors from research and academic backgrounds and will make AFP an increasingly attractive journal in which to publish. ⋯ Impact factor is an oversimplified single measure of 'impact', which may underestimate the contribution of the AFP to society. However, no accepted alternative metric currently exists.