The need for disability awareness training among rurally based Australian general medical practitioners

Abstract

This project followed a needs analysis of people with disabilities living in rural and remote areas of New South Wales, Australia, in which consumers (people with disabilities and their carers or closest person) argued that there was an urgent need for disability awareness training for rurally based general medical practitioners (GPs). The project reported here explored the perceptions of rurally based GPs to determine whether they also perceived a need for disability awareness training. It also explored GPs' awareness and use of referral services available within their communities. Information gathered through questionnaires was used by a discussion group to develop recommendations. These support the need for disability awareness training for GPs at both undergraduate and in-service levels, and include strategies for providing information to rurally based professionals on an ongoing and regular basis in order to address the difficulties they experience in keeping up to date on issues associated with disability.

Key Words:

• general medical practitioners
• disability awareness

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lindsay Gething

It is with great sadness that we have to inform the readership of the Journal that shortly after completing the final editorial work on this Special Issue, Professor Kalman Jacob Mann was seriously injured in a car accident and subsequently died.

Professor Mann was responsible for establishing the two Hadassah Hospitals and Community Health Centres in Jerusalem and for the past 20 years headed the Presidium of Yad Sarah, Israel's largest community based, volunteer operated organization which provides a spectrum of free or nominal cost home care services nation-wide.

We offer our condolences to his family and friends, and trust that this Special Issue stands as a testament to his work in the field.