Elective admission policies in New South Wales public hospitals.

Objective: To assess the existence and content of elective admission policies in New South Wales acute public hospitals.

Methods: A questionnaire was sent to managers of all acute public hospitals (n = 76). Copies of elective admission policies were sought from respondents.

The pricing of nursing care.

Despite the poor performance of the general economy, the health care industry in Australia has experienced constant growth for several decades. Overall, Australia's expenditure on health is relatively high and, with an increasingly aged population, this expenditure is not likely to decrease. With the current concerns over cost-containment in the health sector it is important to assess the value of nursing care in economic terms.

End-of-life decisions in Australian medical practice.

Objective: To estimate the proportion of medical end-of-life decisions in Australia, describe the characteristics of such decisions and compare these data with medical end-of-life decisions in the Netherlands, where euthanasia is openly practised.

Design: Postal survey, conducted between May and July 1996, using a self-administered questionnaire based on the questionnaire used to determine medical end-of-life decisions in the Netherlands in 1995.

Participants: A random sample of active medical practitioners from all Australian States and Territories selected from medical disciplines in which there were opportunities to be the attending doctor at non-acute patient deaths, and hence to make medical end-of-life decisions.