There are over 125 million general practice consultations taking place annually in Australia, with 83 percent of the Australian population consulting a GP at least once a year. General practitioners (GPs) provide person centred, continuing and comprehensive medical care to individuals and families within their community.

General practitioners are not limited by age, gender, body system, disease process or service site. The scope of clinical practice is challenging, spanning prevention, health promotion, early intervention for those at risk, and the management of acute, chronic and complex conditions within the practice population whether in the home, practice, health service, outreach clinic, hospital or community. General practitioners utilise best practice evidence in the light of individual patient circumstances, to understanding, plan and manage their patients’ health needs.

There are many guidelines providing best practice and evidence for managing different conditions for GPs. The aim of this grant is to support guidelines research that investigates use and implementation of guidelines in general practice. Specifically, research topics focusing on:
1. Guideline: content and format – presentation, useability, navigation, access and functionality of guidelines. How do GPs want information presented and implemented?
2. Behavioural aspects of guideline use: how do people use guidelines, how often, what is looked up, when, why and how can this be improved.
3. Consequence (outcome): benefits of using particular guidelines to improve health outcomes.
4. Evidence-practice gaps: do Australian GPs follow specific guidelines well, and if not, why not?

While research falling under any of these areas will be considered, studies focusing on (1) guideline content and format and (2) behavioural aspects of guideline use are encouraged as areas of particular interest. Both pilot studies and proposals for full-scale research studies will be considered.