Australian Family Physician audio

Asthma mortality rates in Australia have declined over the past 20 years but are not low by international standards.

Associate Professor Geoffrey Mitchell talks with Dr Jenny Presser about the role of the GP at different stages in a patient's cancer journey.

The incidence of cancer is rising, so the workload of managing cancer is increasing rapidly. Among the advances in cancer care are advances in coordination of care, with team care being a preferred method.

In the longer term over 70% of people who have had depression experience disease recurrence. Dr Cate Howell discusses with Dr Jenny Presser how to identify those most at risk of relapse and recurrence and how to work with patients to improve that risk and develop a relapse prevention plan.

Depression is a potentially recurring or chronic disorder. The provision of evidence based treatment and effective practice organisation is central to chronic disease management, and these principles can be applied to managing depression.

In the longer term over 70% of people who have had depression experience disease recurrence. Dr Cate Howell discusses with Jenni Parsons how to identify those most at risk of relapse and recurrence and how to work with patients to improve that risk and develop a relapse prevention plan

Associate Professor Geoffrey Mitchell talks with Dr Jenni Parsons about the role of the GP at different stages in a patient's cancer journey. The good news is that Australian cancer survivorship is increasing. Part of the improvement in cancer care world-wide is related to the development of a multidisciplinary team approach. There will be increasing opportunities for GPs to be involved in cancer care in the future, and there are some exciting new resources being developed

Dr Steven Rudolphy discusses straight forward ways for the busy GP to improve asthma management with Dr Jenni Parsons. Although asthma mortality rates in Australia have declined, our 'report card' in asthma management still has basic areas that need improvement, such as medication use and smoking cessation. He also talks about tricky areas - making sure of the diagnosis, differentiating asthma from COPD and wheezing in infants. The National Asthma Council's Asthma Managment Handbook is an excellent GP resource

Alison Fogarty and Grant Blashki talk about the GreenClinic project and what effect it had on the practices involved.

Don Henry, ACF Executive Director, talks about the importance of projects such as the GreenClinic project.

GreenClinic was a pilot educational program developed by the Australian Conservation Foundation and Doctors for the Environment Australia.

Associate Professor Paul Pavli talks to AFP audio about the importance of a good history and examination in rationally selecting investigations to assist in assessing upper abdominal pain.

Upper abdominal pain is a common problem with an extraordinary diversity of possible causes. Many patients have no structural disease, and making the correct diagnosis can be a challenge.

Mr Sean Mackay discusses with Dr Carolyn O'Shea surgical causes of upper abdominal pain and some of the investigations that can help to make the diagnosis of a surgical cause.

In Australia, abdominal pain is a common presenting complaint in the general practice setting. Identifying a surgical cause is important and warrants prompt specialist referral.