title: How do general practitioners engage with allied health practitioners to prevent falls in older people? An exploratory qualitative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore general practitioners' (GPs') perceptions about their use of Chronic Disease Management (CDM) items to access allied health interventions, in particular occupational therapy and physiotherapy, with the purpose of preventing falls, as well as to identify GP support needs with regard to development of partnerships with local allied health practitioners.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative study was conducted in the Sydney metropolitan area through individual semistructured interviews with eight GPs, which were recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Themes included (i) difficulties and opportunities associated with multidisciplinary care; (ii) potential for CDM items to be used to support falls prevention strategies; and (iii) the user-friendliness of the CDM items.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Effective coordination of multidisciplinary care between GPs and allied health professionals was desired but difficult to achieve through the CDM system, making translation of falls prevention evidence into clinical practice challenging. Further education on falls prevention and CDM item modification is needed to bridge this gap.
authors.affiliation: Injury Treatment: Occupational Injury Management, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Alasdair
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Lynette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mackenzie
authors.affiliation: Ageing Work and Health Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Lindy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Clemson
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D002908:Chronic Disease; D019468:Disease Management; D058006:General Practice; D006801:Humans; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty; D010819:Physician's Role; D036301:Qualitative Research
keywords: accidental falls; chronic disease management; occupational therapy; physiotherapy