The mystery of GP research output

Letters

MJA 2001; 175: 667

I think they would have come close to the answer had their analysis of publication rates by workforce sector included the relative rates of government salaried employment.

The proportions of each group in salaried work are approximately:

• General practitioners, 18% (of whom only 2% are government employees);

• Physicians, 56%;

• Surgeons, 26%; and

• Public health physicians, 90%.²

While the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development (PHC-RED) program is a laudable and exciting strategy, it is hard to imagine that it will achieve much change in the rate of general practice research until research activity becomes part of the formal "job description" for a large proportion of GPs, as it is for many of our specialist colleagues.

Of course, the incursion of corporatisation into Australian general practice will introduce important issues in regard to the amount of research undertaken and the nature of the research performed, as it has for Australian universities. As yet, PHC-RED has not developed a view as to how it might handle such influences.

Phillip Gray
General Practitioner, Central Queanbeyan Medical
Centre, Focal Point Arcade, 25 Monaro Street,
Queanbeyan, NSW 2620. gray.qbnATeffect.net.au

1. Askew DA, Glasziou PP, Del Mar CB. Research output of Australian general practice: a comparison with medicine, surgery and public health. Med J Aust 2001; 175: 77-80.
2. Medical masterfile [database]. Sydney: Australasian Medical Publishing Company, 2001.