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Principles for supporting task substitution in Australian general practice
Author(s) -
Kidd Michael R,
Watts Ian T,
Mitchell Christopher D,
Hudson Lynton G,
Wenck Beres C,
Cole Naomi J
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00443.x
Subject(s) - indemnity , task (project management) , workforce , general practice , public relations , medical practice , business , psychology , medicine , medical education , actuarial science , political science , management , family medicine , law , economics
The workforce crisis in Australian general practice provides an impetus to consider new roles for other health professionals. Any innovations need to be appraised in advance for their potential risks and benefits. We propose six principles for this appraisal. These are the need for the new roles to:➢ support the relationship between patients and their general practitioners; ➢ be clearly defined, aligned with competency and with relevant professional registration; ➢ be supported by practice systems providing safeguards against medical error; ➢ be underpinned by a system ensuring informed patient consent to activities being undertaken by members of the general practice team; ➢ be supported by effective medical indemnity insurance and ➢ be supported with appropriate financing.