Postgraduate medically related qualifications of early career general practitioners.

Background And Objectives: General practitioners' (GPs) specialised qualifications and upskilling in medical roles strengthen healthcare systems and improve patient outcomes. This study aimed to describe additional qualifications attained, or being undertaken, by early career GPs and establish associations of obtaining/undertaking postgraduate and post-Fellowship qualifications.

Method: This was a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study of early career college-Fellowed GPs in NSW/ACT, Tasmania and Eastern Victoria (New alumni Experiences of Training and independent Unsupervised Practice [NEXT-UP] study).

Inter-Practice Variability in General Practice Consultations With Older Patients: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training Study.

Rationale: General practice is central to older patient care provision. For GP registrars (specialist GPs in training), exposure to older patients is also vital for developing chronic disease and multimorbidity management skills. However, registrars see fewer older patients, and are less engaged with older patient care, than established GPs.

Changing the antibiotic prescribing of Australian general practice registrars' for acute respiratory tract infections: a non-randomized controlled trial.

Background: Inappropriate antibiotic prescription for self-limiting respiratory tract infections (RTIs) by general practitioner (GP) registrars (trainees) is less common than by established GPs but still exceeds evidence-based benchmarks. A 2014 face-to-face educational intervention for registrars and supervisors reduced registrars' acute bronchitis antibiotic prescription by 16% (absolute reduction). We aimed to establish the efficacy of an updated registrar/supervisor RTI-management intervention (delivered at distance) on antibiotic prescribing.

Prevalence of Antibiotic Prescribing for Acute Respiratory Tract Infection in Telehealth Versus Face-to-Face Consultations: Cross-Sectional Analysis of General Practice Registrars' Clinical Practice.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat. Australia has high antibiotic prescribing rates with the majority of antibiotics prescribed by general practitioners (GPs) for self-limiting acute respiratory tract infection (ARTIs). Australian GP trainees' (registrars') prescribing for ARTIs may have been affected by the introduction of remunerated telehealth consultations in 2020.

General practice registrar evaluation of long COVID in patients presenting with fatigue.

Background Long COVID is a new and prevalent condition defined by persistent symptoms following acute COVID-19 infection. While increasing resources are being directed to management, there is little evidence on how general practitioners (GPs) have changed their assessment and differential diagnosis of patients with potential long COVID symptoms including fatigue. This study aimed to examine how often GP registrars consider long COVID in patients presenting with fatigue, how often they think long COVID might be the cause for fatigue, and patient, registrar, practice, and consultation factors associated with these outcomes.

Temporal trends in the prevalence of GP registrars' long-term paediatric asthma control medications prescription.

Asthma is one of the most common chronic illnesses affecting children. Long-term asthma control medications (LTACMs) are an important aspect of asthma management, with under-prescription associated with poor asthma control and increased asthma deaths. This study aimed to document temporal trends in the prescribing of LTACMs for paediatric patients for asthma-related presentations to Australian general practice registrars (trainees).

General practice registrars' practice in outer metropolitan Australia: a cross-sectional comparison with rural and inner metropolitan areas.

Background General practice training in outer metropolitan (OM) areas contributes to patients' access to care. Differences in clinical practice and training in rural versus urban areas have been established, but less is known about OM versus inner metropolitan (IM) differences - whether they offer a trainee learning experience of populations with distinct demographics and healthcare characteristics. This study sought to identify the characteristics and associations of general practice training in New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory OM areas, compared to IM and rural areas.

Factors associated with early-career GPs' retention as independent specialists in former training practices.

Introduction: Retention of general practice registrars in their training practices is important for addressing the GP workforce deficit and maldistribution of GPs. Given that rural and remote general practices are disproportionately affected by low retention, identifying the factors that promote retention may be as important as developing recruitment strategies in these areas. Quantifying the impact of relevant factors on registrar retention will enable a better understanding of how to incentivise retention and attenuate the loss of the rural workforce to other areas.

Exploring how a patient encounter tracking and learning tool is used within general practice training: a qualitative study.

Introduction In Australian general practitioner (GP) training, feedback and reflection on in-practice experience is central to developing GP registrars' (trainees') clinical competencies. Patient encounter tracking and learning tools (PETALs) that encompass an audit of consecutive patient consultations, feedback, and reflection are used to determine registrars' in-practice exposure and have been suggested as a tool for learning within a programmatic assessment framework. However, there is limited qualitative literature on the utility of PETALs in GP training.

Perceptions of the effectiveness of using patient encounter data as an education and reflection tool in general practice training.

Introduction Patient encounter tools provide feedback and potentially reflection on general practitioner (GP) registrars' in-practice learning and may contribute to the formative assessment of clinical competencies. However, little is known about the perceived utility of such tools. Aim To investigate the perceived utility of a patient encounter tool by GP registrars, their supervisors, and medical educators (MEs).

Prediction of general practice licensure/certification examination performance by a measure of 'questionable' activities in clinical practice: a retrospective cohort study.

Purpose: 'Low-value' clinical care and medical services are 'questionable' activities, being more likely to cause harm than good or with disproportionately low benefit relative to cost. This study examined the predictive ability of the QUestionable In Training Clinical Activities Index (QUIT-CAI) for general practice (GP) registrars' (trainees') performance in Australian GP Fellowship examinations (licensure/certification examinations for independent GP).

Methods: The study was nested in ReCEnT, an ongoing cohort study in which Australian GP registrars document their in-consultation clinical practice.

'Low-value' clinical care in general practice: a cross-sectional analysis of low-value care in early-career GPs' practice.

Nonevidence-based and 'low-value' clinical care and medical services are 'questionable' clinical activities that are more likely to cause harm than good or whose benefit is disproportionately low compared with their cost. This study sought to establish general practitioner (GP), patient, practice, and in-consultation associations of an index of key nonevidence-based or low-value 'questionable' clinical practices. The study was nested in the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training study-an ongoing (from 2010) cohort study in which Australian GP registrars (specialist GP trainees) record details of their in-consultation clinical and educational practice 6-monthly.

Absolute cardiovascular risk assessment by Australian early-career general practitioners: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and associations of general practice registrars' performing absolute cardio-vascular risk (ACVR) assessment (ACVRa).

Design: A cross-sectional study employing data (2017-2018) from the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training project, an ongoing inception cohort study of Australian GP registrars. The outcome measure was whether an ACVRa was performed.

The prevalence and associations of Australian early-career general practitioners' provision of after-hours care.

Introduction: Access to after-hours care (AHC) is an important aspect of general practice service provision.

Objective: To establish the prevalence and associations of early-career GPs' provision of AHC.

Design: An analysis of data from the New alumni Experiences of Training and independent Unsupervised Practice (NEXT-UP) cross-sectional questionnaire-based study.

Early-career general practitioners' perceptions of the utility of vocational training for subsequent independent practice.

Purpose: To evaluate Australian early-career general practitioners' perceptions of the utility of their prior vocational training in preparing them for independent specialist practice. We hypothesised that in-practice teaching would be perceived as more useful than formal education delivered by Regional Training Organisations (RTOs).

Methods And Materials: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study of early-career general practitioners (RTO 'alumni').

Provision of other medical work by Australian early-career general practitioners: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction There is a trend towards GPs diversifying their role by working in health areas beyond general practice. However, little is known about whether this trend is apparent among early-career GPs once they make the transition from training to independent practice. Aim To describe the prevalence of and characteristics associated with early-career GPs providing other medical work.

The Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) cohort study: updated protocol.

Background: During vocational general practice training, the content of each trainee's (in Australia, registrars') in-consultation clinical experience is expected to entail a breadth of conditions that exemplify general practice, enabling registrars to gain competency in managing common clinical conditions and common clinical scenarios. Prior to the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) project there was little research into the content of registrars' consultations despite its importance to quality of training. ReCEnT aims to document the consultation-based clinical and educational experiences of individual Australian registrars.

Cross-sectional analysis of the clinical work hours of early-career general practitioners.

Background And Objectives: The clinical working hours of early-career general practitioners (GPs) are an important factor in Australian GP workforce planning. This study aimed to establish the prevalence and associations of early-career GPs working full time (nine or more sessions per week) in clinical practice.

Method: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study of alumni (from six months to two years post-Fellowship) from three regional training organisations.

Socioeconomic status of practice location and Australian GP registrars' training: a cross-sectional analysis.

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is a major determinant of health. In Australia, areas of socioeconomic disadvantage are characterised by complex health needs and inequity in primary health care provision. General Practice (GP) registrars play an important role in addressing workforce needs, including equitable health care provision in areas of greater socioeconomic disadvantage.

Socioeconomic disadvantage and the practice location of recently Fellowed Australian GPs: a cross-sectional analysis.

Background: Socioeconomic disadvantage and the 'inverse care law' have significant effects on the health and well-being of Australians. Early career GPs can help address the needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged communities by choosing to practice in these locations. This study addressed an evidence gap around GPs post-Fellowship (within 2 years) practice location, and whether practice location is related to postgraduate vocational training.

New alumni EXperiences of Training and independent Unsupervised Practice (NEXT-UP): protocol for a cross-sectional study of early career general practitioners.

Introduction: General practice in Australia, as in many countries, faces challenges in the areas of workforce capacity and workforce distribution. General practice vocational training in Australia not only addresses the training of competent independent general practitioners (GPs) but also addresses these workforce issues. This study aims to establish the prevalence and associations of early career (within 2 years of completion of vocational training) GPs' practice characteristics; and also to establish their perceptions of utility of their training in preparing them for independent practice.