THE WAIKATO MEDICAL-CARE (WAIMEDCA) SURVEY, 1991-1992 - PREFACE

This report describes the WaiMedCa Survey which gathered, over one year, detailed information on a sample of encounters between general practitioners and practice nurses, and their patients in the Waikato Area Health Board territory. It follows a similar survey, the Community Medical Care Survey (CoMedCa) conducted in 1979 in the Hamilton health district. WaiMedCa is the result of cooperation between doctors and nurses in the Waikato, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, the General Practitioners' Association, the University of Auckland School of Medicine and the Waikato Area Health Board. Our aim is to describe the method and disseminate the results of the study in a useable manner, as quickly as possible, to as wide an audience as possible. The report provides sufficient information to allow researchers to delve further into areas of interest and also demonstrates the interrelationship of the variables and the variety of ways in which the data can be viewed. Little discussion of the many issues raised by the results is included, but future publications will investigate some issues in greater depth. Further analysis of the results for specific research needs can be arranged on request to the WaiMedCa Trust, which can be contacted through the authors.