Latest News
- New Byte from BEACH is now available
- University of Sydney launches smoke-free campus
- Plain packs will make smoking history
New Byte from BEACH is now available
February 15, 2012 - GP antibiotic prescriptions for Respiratory Tract Infections a New Byte from BEACH.
"Bytes from BEACH provide brief insights into interesting results about general practice collected from the BEACH program. Byte from BEACH 2012-002: The real story, GP prescribing of antibiotics for respiratory tract infections is now available free through the Family Medicine Research Centre website
"This report follows up on the findings of our first Byte which demonstrated that the Productivity Commission report on antibiotics prescribed by GPs was not a valid or reliable measure of antibiotics prescribing rates by GPs for the management of URTI.
"In this Byte we show that over the last 13 years GPs in Australia have decreased their level of prescribing of antibiotics for acute URTI and to a less degree, for ‘other RTIs’. Our research further demonstrates that the number of antibiotic prescriptions given for any indication by GPs nationally (at its peak in 1998-99) decreased over 6-7 years but has now reverted back to near the 1998-99 level."
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Smoke-free campus at Sydney
January 30, 2012 - Sydney University has introduced a new smoke-free policy for all its campuses.
The new policy, which comes into operation today, follows an extensive period of consultation and feedback during 2011. Surveys of staff and students showed an overwhelming level of support for the proposed changes. Read more
Plain packs will make smoking history
January 24, 2012 - UK newspaper The Guardian interviews Simon Chapman and the move to plain packaging for cigarettes.
"Stripping cigarette packs of their colourful exteriors and forcing them to be sold in plain packaging could prove fatal for the global tobacco industry. Who says so? No less an authority than Tobacco Journal International, the self-styled "leading international trade publication for executives in the world of tobacco"." Read More