Hepatitis C education needs of rural general practitioners working in northern New South Wales

Objective: To assess hepatitis C continuing medical education (CME) needs of GPs working in rural northern New South Wales (NSW). Methods: Anonymous reply paid postal questionnaires sent to all 634 GPs working in northern NSW in August 2000 with a follow-up in September 2000. Data were analysed using descriptive and ℵ² statistics for association. Results: Two hundred and ninety-two GPs replied (response rate 46.1%). Sixty-three per cent of respondents were aware of hepatitis C management protocols. Hepatitis C information was most accessed by reading written material (93%), attending seminars (63%) and using the protocol (57%). Rural GPs need to balance hepatitis C education with other competing topics. We found restricted access to CME in rural areas with GPs requesting a greater range of delivery modes. Conclusions: GPs have an increasing role in hepatitis C management. Hepatitis C CME must be balanced against GP' patient load, interest and competing learning needs.