The aim of this scoping review was to identify and map the literature which discusses specifically Australian general practitioners’ (GPs) views on the qualities that make up effective discharge communication from hospital care back to primary care. The findings indicate that GPs view timeliness, completeness, readability, medication related information and diagnosis/clinical discipline specific information to be qualities that make up effective discharge communication from hospital to the community. There are opportunities for further research into perspectives of effective discharge communication, and future studies on interventions to improve discharge communication, patient safety and policy in transfers of care.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the delivery of primary health care internationally. This research investigated the impact of the initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic on the delivery of primary health care in a remote First Nations community in Far North Queensland. It highlighted there is a risk of underutilisation of primary healthcare services during a health pandemic in remote settings and that strengthening the primary care system is required to reduce the risk of long-term impacts of service disengagement.

This paper offers insights about strategies for promoting service uptake of a health justice partnerships for young people, external workers and partner agency staff. Various methods for promotion were implemented. Practical considerations are offered to assist others when promoting HJPs.

Behvarz workers or community health workers not only play a major role in the health system, but also contribute to filling the gap between communities and high-level institutions by delivering basic healthcare services and for more complicated needs they can refer people to receive appropriate services, leading to more homogeneity in policies. Therefore, strategies are needed to emphasise Behvarz workers’ role, with a special focus on engaging local communities. The identified challenges can provide valuable information for health policymakers and the experiences of Behvarz workers can be used to inform international community health workers’ programs, which in turn provides better outcomes for treated patients.

Inadequate subsidisation of the Medicare rebate threatens the survival of bulk billing only GP services. Little is known of the socio-economic status of bulk billing only practice localities and whether they target disadvantaged populations. This research provides a current estimation of the distribution of bulk billing only GP services in Australia in relation to surrounding population socio-economic demographics.

The aim of this paper was to determine the most important opioid agonist treatment barriers to Australian clients via a cross-sectional survey using a Likert scale. Results found that the most important barriers to opioid agonist treatment were stigma, lack of support services, no flexibility and enjoy using opioids. Furthermore, those who used prescriptions opioids were female or non-binary, were not currently using opioid agonist treatment, were younger and had high dependence scores were impacted more by certain treatment barriers.

International healthcare systems are increasing the use of asynchronous electronic consultations (eConsults) between general practitioners and non-GP specialists. There is no current research addressing the perspectives of Australian adult medicine physicians on the introduction of an eConsultant model of care. Australian specialists practicing in adult medicine subspecialties indicated a willingness to participate in eConsulting, while also highlighting pragmatic issues that will need to be addressed by future policymakers.

Colorectal cancer survivors can experience ongoing side-effects and functioning impairments long after completing treatment. This study explored how colorectal cancer survivors manage their consequences of treatment in the community. Colorectal cancer survivors were interviewed about the side-effects they experienced after treatment; their experiences of general practitioner-coordinated care; perceived care gaps; and their perception of the general practitioner role in post-treatment survivorship care.

The revisions to Australia’s National Cervical Cancer Screening Program provide an opportunity to revisit rural women’s attitudes towards screening, given their increased incidence and mortality from cervical cancer. In our study, only half of rural women were aware of the changes to the program. Those who were aware were more likely to have a positive attitude towards it. Lack of knowledge was a key barrier demonstrating that initiatives to further raise awareness of the changes are needed in rural communities.

As reproductive genetic carrier screening becomes more widely accessible, ensuring uptake by primary health care professionals (HCPs) is essential to equitable service provision. We surveyed HCPs offering reproductive genetic carrier screening and identified a range of priorities to address barriers to and support for routine offering of screening. Top supports included patient resources, funding, and ongoing education. Policymakers may use these findings to direct their future efforts.

Little is known about the health impacts of ceasing group exercise programs during the COVID-19 pandemic on rural individuals with chronic disease. This study found no clinically significant impact on physical functioning in clients with chronic diseases who were unable to attend their structured exercise groups during the COVID-19 pandemic, but many did reduce their amount of physical activity. This signals the need for further research to better understand how physical and mental health is affected in this population by such isolation.

A substantial proportion of the global population are at a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetes prevention programs are intended to reduce progression to diabetes, but are underutilised. Engagement in diabetes prevention programs depended on individual agency factors and structural barriers that could be mapped to levels of the social-ecological model. Understanding the perceptions of people with prediabetes will inform strategies to overcome multi-level barriers to preventive health program engagement in rural settings.

One of the challenges in type 2 diabetes management is to maintain the consistent and regular monitoring care, which may be impacted by various factors. This study investigated factors associated with adherence to clinical guidelines on HbA1c testing frequency and identified key factors such as age, practice size, medication, and incentive payments. The findings can potentially be translated into the initiation of more efficient strategies and policies to improve diabetes monitoring care, and ultimately patient outcomes for diabetes patients.

Healthcare workers have reported concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic about their health and risk to families and colleagues; most studies have focused on hospital clinical staff. This study demonstrates the considerable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work and personal lives of community health service staff; including concerns about their family’s health; managing work and family responsibilities; accessing and using personal protective equipment; redeployment; and turnover intentions. Appropriate workforce planning, including wellbeing initiatives, is crucial to support and retain staff.

General practice needs to work to increase recruitment of doctors, reduce early career burnout and to retain GPs in the long term. Early career medical professionals experience stress and burnout at higher levels than the wider community. General practice may have traditionally been seen as a family friendly career option, however, unfortunately it may be no longer. This paper examines the experience of GP trainees with stress and burnout and the impact that parenting has on their experience and looks at solutions to improve conditions for early to mid career GPs, and hopefully make general practice more attractive for future doctors.