Biography/ Background
Professional Interests
Files
Media Expertise

Dr Oliver Frank

Telephone	+61 8 8313 3455
Position	Lecturer
Email	oliver.frank@adelaide.edu.au
Fax	+61 8 8313 3511
Building	178 North Terrace - Terrace Towers
Floor/Room	11 26
Campus	North Terrace
Org Unit	General Practice

To link to this page, please use the following URL:
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/oliver.frank

Biography/ Background

Career summary

I have been in clinical general practice since 1978, and was a partner in a practice from 1988 until 2009. Exchanges of practice with English GPs in 1993-1994 in Nottingham and in 2000-2001 in Bristol allowed me to compare the British NHS with the Australian health system from the inside.

My growing interest in research led me to enrol in 1998 as a part time student for a PhD, which was awarded for a thesis based on a randomised controlled trial of automated opportunistic reminders about preventive activities in general practice. I designed and conducted the trial and programmed a general practice computer system to generate the opportunistic reminders. In 2006 I started an academic career part time, with the balance of my time continuing to be spent in clinical practice.

I have served and continue to serve on a range of professional and government and committees and boards related to my interests in quality of care, prevention, informatics and health services.

Qualifications

2011    Fellow, Australasian College of Health Informatics

2006    Doctor of Philosophy, University of Adelaide

1984    Fellow, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners

1980    Full member, Australian Society of Hypnosis

1979    Family Planning Certificate, Family Planning Association

1976    Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, University of Adelaide

Current activities:
Professional practice
2009-    General Practitioner, Oakden Medical Centre, Hillcrest, South Australia, 0.6 time
Appointments
2011-    University Senior Research Fellow, Discipline of General Practice, University of Adelaide, 0.4 time

Publications 2006-2011

Mezrani C, Blacker N, LeBlanc T, Frank OR, Alderman CP, Rossi S, Rowett D, Shute R, Bell JS. Medicines with anticholinergic and sedative properties: prescribing considerations for people with dementia. Aust Fam Physician. Accepted 23rd October 2011.

Frank OR. Hospitals are not an appropriate setting in which to provide catch-up immunisations.   J Paed Child Health 2011 . (letter). Accepted 20th October 2011.

Frank OR, Alderman C. The fistful of yellow forms. Aust Fam Physician. 2011 Sep:40(9):659.

Stocks NP, Frank OR, Linn AM, Anderson K, Meertens S. Vertical integration of teaching in Australian general practice - a survey of regional training providers. Med J Aust. 2011 Jun 6;194(11):S75-8.

Frank OR, Stocks NP, Aylward P. Patient acceptance and perceived utility of pre-consultation prevention summaries and reminders in general practice: pilot study. BMC Family Practice 2011, 12:40, 26 May 2011. doi:10.1186/1471-2296-12-40.

Ried K, Frank OR, Stocks NP: Aged garlic extract lowers blood pressure in patients with treated but uncontrolled hypertension: A randomised controlled trial. Maturitas 2010, 67:144-150.

Ried K, Stocks N, Frank O. Chocolate dose may be too much (letter). BMJ 2010; 341:c4176.

Ried K, Sullivan T, Fakler P, Frank O, Stocks N: Does chocolate reduce blood pressure? A meta-analysis. BMC Medicine 2010, 8:39, doi:10.1186/1741-7015-8-39.

Frank OR. Government diabetes plan not so new for general practice. MJA Insight July 2010. http://tinyurl.com/4fbw4we.

Ried K, Frank O, Stocks N: Dark chocolate or tomato extract for prehypertension: a randomised controlled trial. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 9; 2009, doi:10.1186/1472-6882-9-22.

Frank OR. General and relative time in urban general practice (letter). Med J Aust. 2009 Jul 20;191(2):125.

Ried K, Frank OR, Stocks NP, Fakler P, Sullivan T. Effect of garlic on blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Cardiovascular Disorders 2008, 8:13 (16 June 2008).

Frank OR. Towards the appropriate use of diagnostic imaging (letter). Med J Aust 2007; 187 (8): 473.

Frank OR, Agzarian J. Making CO2 cryotherapy more economical (letter). Aust Fam Physician. 2006 Nov; 35(11):839.

Professional Interests

Prevention in primary care
Informatics in primary care
Health services research

Current areas of research interest:

1. Cluster randomised controlled trial of opportunistic pre-consultation reminders to patients for preventive activities.

2. Non-urgent patients referred by GPs to emergency departments: how many, and why?

3. Doctors with the lowest cost per claim for treating injured workers under Workcover: what can we learn from their example?

4. Randomised controlled trial of garlic extract as an adjunctive treatment for hypertensive patients.

Files

References_2009_GPPHCRC_presentation.rtf [49.1K] (application/rtf)

Expertise for Media Contact

Categories	Medicine and medical research, Information Management
Expertise	Preventive care; informatics; general medical practice; family medicine; primary health care; health services
Notes	General practitioner/family physician, Hillcrest, Adelaide, South Australia Chair, Adelaide North East Division of General Practice; Board member, General Practice South Australia; Fellow, Australasian College of Health Informatics; Member, RACGP eHealth National Standing Committee.
Mobile	+61 407 181 683
After hours	+61 407 181 683

Entry last updated: Sunday, 5 Feb 2012

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