APHCRI's ANU-based staff conduct a number of research projects every year. A list of their final work is available at: APHCRI ANU: completed research.
What is the impact of policy on coordination on the practice of coordination?
Yen L, Gardner K, Banfield M, McRae I, Wells R, Gillespie J (University of Sydney)
Year started: 2010
This project, supported by funding from the Ian Potter Foundation, sought to establish how coordination of care could be made more effective through policy intervention. The work reviewed the literature, particularly in mental health, developed a system wide typology of policy activity relating to coordination and information continuity, and undertook a study of information continuity in four different primary health care models of practice.
How much work is involved in looking after your health?
Yen L, McRae I, Jowsey T, Dugdale P, Gillespie J
The Serious and Continuing Illness Policy and Practice Study (SCIPPS) has developed a set of research activities, including a survey designed to establish what sort of health-related work people undertake to manage chronic illness, and how much time people spend on it. A national survey of a sample of members from National Seniors Australia, the National Diabetes Services Scheme and the Australian Lung Foundation was used to establish health status, health service use and time spent by older Australians. Publications on the literature available on health-related time use and on the results of the survey have been published, covering patient and carer time use, the impact of multi-morbidity on time use, and the use of complementary health practitioners by people with chronic illness.
Further analysis is being conducted on time use by people with specific conditions, diabetes and Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, on the elements of coordination, and on the potential to use clusters of conditions to determine time and illness patterns.
A framework for evaluation of knowledge exchange
Pettigrove M, Yen L, Dwan K, McInnes P, Mukuka C
Year started: 2012
Creating an effective interface between policy makers, researchers and other stakeholders that leads to relevant research and higher uptake of research evidence into policy is an issue for all governments, not only our own. This project will establish a framework for evaluation to use in assessing success.
Systematic review of continuous quality improvement in Indigenous primary health care organisations
Gardner K, Chan M, Sargent G, McAullay D, Sibthorpe B, Dowden M
Year started: 2012
Continuous quality improvement (CQI) has emerged in the past two decades as a method to implement organisational interventions and improve quality of care in health services, but little is known about its long-term effectiveness and sustainability in Indigenous primary health care (PHC) organisations. We are conducting a systematic review of the international evidence for effectiveness of CQI in improving PHC services for Indigenous and ethnic minority populations to address this gap. This systematic review will consider the long-term evidence for patient outcomes, key strategies utilised, and barriers and facilitators to implementation of CQI.
QUALICOPC-AUSTRALIA: The Australian arm of an international comparative study of primary health care systems
McRae I, Parkinson A, Sargent G, Gee A
Year started: 2011
This project is part of an international study analysing differences between primary health care systems in Europe and three non-European countries undertaken by the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) research group in the Netherlands. APHCRI and the University of Western Sydney are jointly undertaking the Australian segment. The Australian role involved conducting a survey of GPs and their patients and preparing a detailed description of the Australian primary health care system structured to provide comparisons with other countries. The data collection phase is now complete, and analysis of both the survey data and international comparisons will start shortly in Australia and at NIVEL.
National Centre for Geographic & Resource Analysis in Primary Health Care (GRAPHC) on-line mapping and related geo-spatial analysis systems
Konings P, Hewett M, McRae I, Mazumdar S, Bahgeri N
Year started: 2011
The GRAPHC project aims to support primary health care researchers to access and analyse spatially based primary health care data, and in particular to undertake formal spatial analyses using this data. A central aspect of meeting this aim involves making spatially determined primary health care data publicly available in an online mapping environment. GRAPHC has a significant range of such data currently publicly available through HealthLandscape Australia system, and will have more data available over the coming year through different systems. It will have features that will allow researchers to link relevant health data to areas without compromising privacy and confidentiality.
Primary health care service areas in Australia
Mazumdar S, McRae I, Konings P, Hewett M, Bahgeri N, Butler D, Douglas K
Year started: 2012
Research into primary health care outcomes and service provision frequently requires information on access to GPs, which is usually provided as number of GPs per head of population in a defined area. However these areas are usually administratively defined with little relevance to GP service use, and hence run the risk of providing misleading outcomes. This study will define areas in NSW which are characterised by the patterns of actual patient usage of GPs to provide a basis for stronger geospatial and other ecological studies in the future.
Analysis of undiagnosed diabetes using practice level data
Bahgeri N, McRae I, Mazumdar S, Konings P, Hewett M, Douglas K
Year started: 2012
This study uses GP practice level data for the LeFevre Peninsula area of Western Adelaide to compare the location of people with diagnosed diabetes with the numbers of expected diabetes patient s in those areas. This enables more detailed analysis of the characteristics of undiagnosed individuals and areas where the undiagnosed patients reside, and enables mapping of these areas.
Examination of co-morbidity of chronic conditions using SCIPPS Survey data
Islam M, McRae I
Year started: 2013
While previous studies of SCIPPS data have shown costs and time use faced by people with chronic conditions are closely related to their multi-morbidity, little is known about the nature and impact of the structures of co-morbidity. This study will explore which chronic conditions are related and which tend to occur together. It will then explore the relationship of co-morbid groups of chronic conditions with costs and time demands faced by patients with these conditions.
Examination of the impact of costs of managing chronic conditions using SCIPPS Survey data
Carpenter A, McRae I
Year started: 2012
While previous studies of SCIPPS data has examined the costs faced by people with chronic conditions, they have not addressed the impact of these costs on patient’s ability to meet the costs of daily living. This issue will be explored using data from the initial SCIPPS survey on the health of senior Australians.
Who provides After Hours GP care in Australia
Pham M, McRae I
Year started: 2013
While there is considerable research on the adequacy of After Hours medical care in Australia, there is little information on who provides that care and on the impact of financial incentives on care provision. Using data from the MABEL survey of clinicians, this study will explore who provides After Hours care (men, women, young, old, parent etc) and the relationships with their income, debt, wages etc. This information may provide direction for further targeting of policy measures to improve the level of After Hours care available in Australia.
MSOD Report: spatial mapping medical schools and student origins
Konings P, McRae I, Butler D
(In collaboration with Robert Graham Center, USA & Medical Students Outcomes Database (MSOD))
Year started: 2010
The Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand commissioned this project to examine MSOD data from 2006 to 2010 and create an online mapping tool which would allow universities, policy makers and other stakeholders to reveal the regional source or footprint of medical school applicants and their intention to practice in urban/rural areas, analysed by area, university and background factors (such as rurality).
The resulting interactive web-based mapping tools afford the Deans accessible, visually engaging output to illustrate complex issues. These data (available via GRAPHC’s secure HealthLandscape Australia environment) may inform medical schools, community, potential students and policymakers about the nature of medical students’ progress from enrolment to practice. It may inform initiatives to address community objectives on workforce shortages.
