Chronic hepatitis B - a clinical audit of GP management.

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection represents a growing health burden in Australia. This clinical audit aimed to enhance general practitioner awareness of the recommended management for patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Objective: This article describes a clinical two-phase audit of 119 Australian GPs who contributed records retrospectively of patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Discussion: Patient records were examined for compliance with prevailing guidelines and GPs received education on guidelines. At completion of the audit 29% of patients were monitored at recommended intervals and 47% were managed according to the current guidelines. Recording of hepatitis B virus DNA results increased from 24% in phase 1 to 63% in phase 2. General practitioners reported increased knowledge of appropriate management and referral. Twenty-five percent of patients audited in both phases had been referred to a specialist. Participating GPs improved their management of patients with chronic hepatitis B. However, there remains considerable scope for enhancing GP understanding of hepatitis B virus and applying current guidelines to clinical practice.