Biobank classification in an Australian setting.

In 2011, Watson and Barnes proposed a schema for classifying biobanks into 3 groups (mono-, oligo-, and poly-user), primarily based upon biospecimen access policies. We used results from a recent comprehensive survey of cancer biobanks in New South Wales, Australia to assess the applicability of this biobank classification schema in an Australian setting. Cancer biobanks were identified using publically available data, and by consulting with research managers.

Diagnosis and disclosure of a memory problem is associated with quality of life in community based older Australians with dementia.

Background: Identification of factors associated with quality of life (QoL) in people having dementia will help develop strategies for maintenance and improvement of patient QoL. This study examined the predictors of QoL in a community-dwelling population aged 75 years and over, with or without dementia.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 169 GPs and 2,028 patients.

Difficulties in disclosing the diagnosis of dementia: a qualitative study in general practice.

Background: Dementia is an insidious and stigmatised condition, and research indicates that GPs find communicating this diagnosis particularly problematic. Delays in diagnosis may impede optimal patient care. Little research has been published on Australian GPs' perceptions of barriers to disclosing the diagnosis of dementia.

Study protocol: the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) study.

Background: Patient encounters are the core learning activity of Australian general practice (family practice) training. Exposure to patient demographics and presentations may vary from one general practice registrar (vocational trainee) to another. This can affect comprehensiveness of training.

Waiting room ambience and provision of opioid substitution therapy in general practice.

Objective: To assess whether patients receiving opioid substitution therapy (OST) in general practice cause other patients sufficient distress to change practices--a perceived barrier that prevents general practitioners from prescribing OST.

Design, Setting And Participants: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey of consecutive adult patients in the waiting rooms of a network of research general practices in New South Wales during August-December 2009.

Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence of disturbing waiting room experiences where drug intoxication was considered a factor, discomfort about sharing the waiting room with patients being treated for drug addiction, and likelihood of changing practices if the practice provided specialised care for patients with opiate addiction.

Correlation and agreement of self-assessed and objective skin disease severity in a cross-sectional study of patients with acne, psoriasis, and atopic eczema.

Background: Previous studies have shown variable correlation of patients' self-assessed skin severity measures and clinician-assessed objective measures of severity. But, generally, correlation has not been as good as might be expected for conditions in which the objective physical extent of skin disease is apparent to the sufferer to an extent that is not applicable in many other diseases.

Methods: This paper reports agreement and correlation of self-assessed and objective severity measures in a study of 108 subjects with acne, psoriasis, or atopic eczema.

How generalisable are results of studies conducted in practice-based research networks? A cross-sectional study of general practitioner demographics in two New South Wales networks.

Objective: To compare the demographics of general practitioners in two practice-based research networks (PBRNs) and to explore the generalisability of research findings from these PBRNs.

Design, Setting And Participants: Cross-sectional questionnaire-based study of two geographically-based PBRNs--Hunter New England Central Coast Network of Research General Practices (NRGP) and Primary Healthcare Research Network-General Practice (PHReNet-GP)--during August-September 2010. All 183 GP members of both PBRNs were invited to participate; of these, 140 (77%) participated.

Occupational violence in general practice: a whole-of-practice problem. Results of a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To examine the experiences of occupational violence in general practitioner (GP) and non-GP staff. Further objectives were to compare prevalence of violence in GP and non-GP staff and to examine levels of apprehension and perceptions of control over violence.

Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire-based study.