Health IT in Australian general practice: opportunities and challenges

The global population is aging rapidly. It is estimated that over a quarter of the world’s population will be aged over 65 by 2050 (Wilson et al. 2016). Similar trend is observed in Australia, with over 15% of Australians aged of 65 years, 20% of whom live some form of disability. While Australians are living longer, their later years are impacted by chronic life limiting conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and neurological conditions. Older people are the highest consumers of healthcare services. Almost 30% of all general practice attendance in Australia are for older people. As more and more older people continue to live and age in the community, general practitioners are ideally placed to initiate conversations of palliative care to the aging population with complex life limiting conditions.

Palliative care is defined as person and family-centred care provided to those with chronic life limiting conditions with little to no prospect of cure, where the aim is to optimise quality of life. The benefits of early implementation of palliative care for those living with and dying from chronic illnesses (and their families) is well documented in the literature...