Liaw, S.T., Cairns, C., and Rasalam, R. (1997) A computer education and support program for Australian GPs. In: Proceedings of the National Health Informatics Conference (5) 82. pp. 1-10. From: 5th National Health Informatics Conference: managing information for better health outcomes in Australia and the Asia Pacific Region, 11-13 August 1997, Sydney, NSW.

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only

Abstract

[Extract] Australian general practitioners (GPs) have been extremely slow to use computer tools in their clinical practice. GPs mostly (40-50%) use computers for front desk functions such as billing, accounting and appointment scheduling. No more than 10% use a computer in the consulting room, despite an acknowledged appreciation of its clinical potential. A computer education course for GPs should therefore be "hands on", be interactive and collaborative in small groups, and encourage individuals to make their own assessments and decisions regarding the uptake of new information.This project was designed and taught by the University of Melbourne General Practice Unit.

Research Statement

Research Significance	We learnt that: 1. it is possible to establish a meaningful and relevant educational program based on sound adult learning and laboratory learning principles. 2. the curriculum should be flexible and modular so as to allow participants to return for specific updates. 3. a learning laboratory and petting zoo is a valuable asset but requires significant resources to establish and maintain. 4. telecommunication and emerging multimedia technologies is the best placed factor that can be used to help GPs begin to use computers in their practice. 5. an internet home page is useful but must be regularly updated with useful information and the use by GPs need to be encouraged by a variety of methods. 6. it is possible to establish a division-based computer education and support service and that special effort must be made to train divisional staff to take provide low level support on IT matters to their members. 7. educational facilitators are important to manage and deliver the training program as well as provide support to divisional staff. 8. the best administrative structure is for divisions to organise the GPs to attend the training sessions as they seem to be more effective under those circumstances. 9. these education projects should be jointly financed by government and users. 10.the people network must be maintained and nurtured using both paper-based and electronic media. We recommend that similar projects and computer-laboratories be established.
Item ID:	26584
Item Type:	Conference Item (Research - E1)
ISBN:	978-0-646-30576-9
Keywords:	medical education, information technology, computers, learning
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2013 22:56
FoR Codes:	13 EDUCATION > 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy > 130209 Medicine, Nursing and Health Curriculum and Pedagogy @ 60% 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111717 Primary Health Care @ 20% 08 INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES > 0806 Information Systems > 080602 Computer-Human Interaction @ 20%
SEO Codes:	93 EDUCATION AND TRAINING > 9302 Teaching and Instruction > 930201 Pedagogy @ 20% 93 EDUCATION AND TRAINING > 9305 Education and Training Systems > 930599 Education and Training Systems not elsewhere classified @ 60% 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970111 Expanding Knowledge in the Medical and Health Sciences @ 20%
Downloads:	Total: 5
	More Statistics