Health Issues journal edition details

Assessing Consumer Ratings of Quality in General Practice Needs More Than Just Rating Scales

Accurate assessments of quality in general practice are dependent on the views of health consumers. Currently, consumers’ views of general practice quality are primarily assessed using rating scales. Rating scales are quick, cheap and capable of eliciting large amounts of data from numerous respondents in any easy-to-use and interpret format. But how dependable is the information they present? This article discusses the limitations of ratings scales and proposes mixed-method approaches as a viable alternative to assessing consumer views on quality in general practice

Belief Versus Reality in Reforming Health Care

J Michael Wynne is a retired surgeon who has spent over 15 years following the changes from a predominantly not-for-profit to a for-profit health care system in the USA and Australia. This article explores two conflicting patterns of thinking, for-profit and not-for-profit currently influence Australian health care. It describes the differences between these two precepts and how people resolve to mental resolve the conflict between them. The consequences of this conflict and the domination of for-profit thinking in health care are illustrated with examples from the USA.

How Patient-centred is Australian General Practice?

Patient-centred care can be described generally as an approach that emphasises attention to patients’ psychosocial as well as physical needs. The approach emphasises that treatment choice takes patient preferences into account, and that self-care is supported as well as treatment. Central to this is the development of a sense of partnership in care, and facilitation of patient involvement in decision making about treatment decisions (Mead et al. 2002). Patients have been found to prefer patient-centred care, and those who receive it, also report better health outcomes (Little et al. 2001). This article examines the analysis of the General Practice Assessment Survey (GPAS) and what it revels about the degree of patient-centred care experienced by participants.

Learning As We Go: Lessons for Australian General Practice after 25 Years of HIV/AIDS

Next year, 2006, will see the 25th anniversary of the world’s first publication about HIV/AIDS. On 5 June 1981, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Surveillance Report of the USA Centre for Disease Control published a report on a strange new condition. This 1981 article was not premature, however, and those working and living in gay communities in Australia and abroad knew that something terrible was happening to members of our communities well before that date. My aim in this article is to share twelve important lessons I have learnt from the management of HIV in Australian general practice over the past 25 years.

Patient Partnership and Shared Decision Making: Involving Patients in Management Decisions

Research shows that involving patients in decisions about their health care and treatment improves outcomes and patient satisfaction. This article explores the meaning of patient partnership and shared decision making, and discusses the contrast between these two concepts and consumerism.