Rural doctors play a vital role in the effective treatment of trauma.
In their role as generalist practitioners, they also have considerable experience in preventative medicine. Since 1993 the Federally funded Divisions of General Practice Program has provided the resources to enable generalist medical practitioners to extend these skills and experiences into developing new ways of improving Australian health. These experiences can be shared with others, and extended into other areas of public health, including injury prevention and trauma reduction. Injury Prevention Throughout history, extensive effort and resources have been dedicated to curing disease with significant effect in the reduction and severity, and in some cases, the elimination of disease. By comparison, injury prevention has received far less attention, and yet it remains a major contributing factor in cause of death and impairment of health.