Health promotion and the use of Gpass in Scotland.
OBJECTIVE
To identify how computerised practices using Gpass software (General Practice Administration System for Scotland), currently implement the new health promotion regulations.


METHODS
Postal questionnaire to all Gpass practices in Scotland. Data were gathered on types and methods of recording health promotion data, Read code selection, health education given and intended methods of data analysis. Questionnaire results were compared with data from an Electronic Questionnaire analysing actual data recorded on practice computers.


RESULTS
Overall response rate: 64.6%, 94.8% of the responding practices have been approved for health promotion band three. Most practices (94.5%) use their computer for data collection, 63.6% of practices use a manual data capture form and 28.8% use computer data capture methods. Methods of collecting patient data and selection of Read codes for computer data entry are variable. Most practices use one method of data collection; a significant minority use multiple methods or more than one Read code to record the same item. The recording of health promotion on computer has increased greatly since the introduction of the new regulations: the current levels of recording are alcohol history (26.3%), blood pressure reading (57.6%), smoking (35.4%), exercise (7.1%), weight (21.4%) and height (16.4%). Most practices (94.3%) intend using Gpass for data analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Methods of collecting and recording health promotion data differ greatly between practices, with variable standardisation of health promotion codes and differing use of appropriate elements of the Gpass software.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003625:Data Collection; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006284:Health Plan Implementation; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D009816:Office Automation; D012606:Scotland; D012984:Software