Strategies to increase preventive care in general practice.
OBJECTIVE
To develop strategies to overcome barriers to preventive care in general practice.


METHODS
Participants invited to attend a one-day workshop ranked barriers to preventive care in a pre-workshop survey. During the workshop, small groups generated strategies to overcome the most influential barriers. After the workshop, participants nominated strategies for implementation in the ideal world and in the realities of resource constraints.


METHODS
Twenty-six participants representing general practice, medical academe, funding authorities, health policy planners, researchers, medicopolitical organisations and consumers.


RESULTS
The surveys yielded preferred strategies for implementation in the ideal world and 10 preferred strategies for implementation given likely resource constraints.


CONCLUSIONS
Authoritative guidelines are needed to guide clinical practice and to evaluate research. Other comprehensive strategies to overcome barriers to preventive care must be implemented and evaluated for effectiveness and acceptability in field experiments before wider implementation. The controlled implementation and evaluation of these strategies requires genuine collaboration amongst clinicians, health policy planners, researchers, funding authorities and general practice academe.
Ward
J E
JE
New South Wales Cancer Education Research Project, Faculty of Medicine, University of Newcastle.
Gordon
J
J
Sanson-Fisher
R W
RW
D001315:Australia; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005194:Family Practice; D006287:Health Planning Guidelines; D006801:Humans; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011315:Preventive Medicine / Q000193:education