Medical Journal of Australia – Fitness to Drive, General Practice Research and COVID-19
This week in the Medical Journal of Australia, a new article warns that Australians may experience poorer health outcomes unless recognition and funding of general practice research is supported and enhanced with long-term investment into research training and funding.
Here the authors highlight that general practice has been underfunded for many years in Australia, which has reduced the appeal of the profession due to a lack of academic opportunities, and risks research outcomes being unfit for the general practice environment as GPs become less involved in research over time.
They outline several new initiatives to support primary care research, but call for greater investment in general practice research and infrastructure in Australia that reflects the size of general practice, the population it serves and the proportion of associated Medicare spend.
Another article outlines that assessing fitness to drive in older people remains one of the more challenging duties of a general practitioner, and that there is a need for a validated objective toolkit to support GPs’ clinical judgement and aid discussions about the need for on-road testing or driving cessation.
There are also several new COVID-19 articles of interest this week, including an outline of the current clinical trials underway for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, guidelines from the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine about the management of adult cardiac arrest during COVID-19, and the challenges of diabetes management during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Access to COVID-19 articles in the Medical Journal of Australia here.
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