Douglas Farrago MD uses the insights he has learned from twenty years of being a family physician, his vast connection to DPC docs from around the country and his own odyssey into Direct Primary Care that he used to create an incredibly successful practice in the central Virginia area. He teaches you the secrets you need to know to fill your practice as well as laying the groundwork into making your office great so patients are clamoring to get in.

General practitioners and other primary care professionals have a leading role in contemporary health care, which Trisha Greenhalgh explores in this highly praised new text. She provides perceptive and engaging insights into primary health care, focussing on: its intellectual roots its impact on the individual, the family and the community the role of the multidisciplinary team contemporary topics such as homelessness, ethnic health and electronic records. Concise summaries, highlighted boxes, extensive referencing and a dedicated section on effective learning make this essential reading for postgraduate students, tutors and researchers in primary care. "Trish Greenhalgh, in her frequent columns in the British Medical Journal...more than any other medical journalist spoke to her fellow GPs in the language of experience, but never without linking this to our expanding knowledge from the whole of human science. When I compare the outlines of primary care so lucidly presented in this wonderful book, obviously derived from rich experience of real teaching and learning, with the grand guignol theatre of London medical schools when I was a student 1947-52, the advance is stunning." —From the foreword by Julian Tudor Hart "Trish Greenhalgh is one of the international stars of general practice and a very clever thinker. This new book is a wonderful resource for primary health care and general practice. Every general practice registrar should read this book and so should every general practice teacher and primary care researcher." —Professor Michael Kidd, Head of the Department of General Practice, University of Sydney and Immediate Past President of The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners "This important new book by one of primary care's most accomplished authors sets out clearly the academic basis for further developments in primary health care. Health systems will only function effectively if they recognise the importance of high quality primary care so I strongly recommend this book to students, teachers, researchers, practitioners and policy makers." —Professor Martin Marshall, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, UK

Ask for a definition of primary care, and you are likely to hear as many answers as there are health care professionals in your survey. Primary Care fills this gap with a detailed definition already adopted by professional organizations and praised at recent conferences. This volume makes recommendations for improving primary care, building its organization, financing, infrastructure, and knowledge baseâ€"as well as developing a way of thinking and acting for primary care clinicians. Are there enough primary care doctors? Are they merely gatekeepers? Is the traditional relationship between patient and doctor outmoded? The committee draws conclusions about these and other controversies in a comprehensive and up-to-date discussion that covers: The scope of primary care. Its philosophical underpinnings. Its value to the patient and the community. Its impact on cost, access, and quality. This volume discusses the needs of special populations, the role of the capitation method of payment, and more. Recommendations are offered for achieving a more multidisciplinary education for primary care clinicians. Research priorities are identified. Primary Care provides a forward-thinking view of primary care as it should be practiced in the new integrated health care delivery systemsâ€"important to health care clinicians and those who train and employ them, policymakers at all levels, health care managers, payers, and interested individuals.

With family doctors increasingly overburdened, bureaucratized, and burned out, how can the field change before it's too late? Over the past few decades, as American medical practice has become increasingly specialized, the number of generalists—doctors who care for the whole person—has plummeted. On paper, family medicine sounds noble; in practice, though, the field is so demanding in scope and substance, and the health system so favorable to specialists, that it cannot be fulfilled by most doctors. In Searching for the Family Doctor, Timothy J. Hoff weaves together the early history of the family practice specialty in the United States with the personal narratives of modern-day family doctors. By formalizing this area of practice and instituting specialist-level training requirements, the originators of family practice hoped to increase respect for generalists, improve the pipeline of young medical graduates choosing primary care, and, in so doing, have a major positive impact on the way patients receive care. Drawing on in-depth interviews with fifty-five family doctors, Hoff shows us how these medical professionals have had their calling transformed not only by the indifferent acts of an unsupportive health care system but by the hand of their own medical specialty—a specialty that has chosen to pursue short- over long-term viability, conformity over uniqueness, and protectionism over collaboration. A specialty unable to innovate to keep its membership cohesive and focused on fulfilling the generalist ideal. The family doctor, Hoff explains, was conceived of as a powered-up version of the "country doctor" idea. At a time when doctor-patient relationships are evaporating in the face of highly transactional, fast-food-style medical practice, this ideal seems both nostalgic and revolutionary. However, the realities of highly bureaucratic reimbursement and quality-of-care requirements, educational debt, and ongoing consolidation of the old-fashioned independent doctor's office into corporate health systems have stacked the deck against the altruists and true believers who are drawn to the profession of family practice. As more family doctors wind up working for big health care corporations, their career paths grow more parochial, balkanizing the specialty. Their work roles and professional identities are increasingly niche-oriented. Exploring how to save primary care by giving family doctors a fighting chance to become the generalists we need in our lives, Searching for the Family Doctor is required reading for anyone interested in the troubled state of modern medicine.

Named a 2013 Doody's Core Title! "This is a wonderful book for both novice and experienced physician assistants and nurse practitioners. This latest edition will see frequent use in your daily practice."Score: 100, 5 stars--Doody's Medical Reviews "This textbook provides comprehensive coverage of primary care disorders in an easy-to-read format and contains invaluable step-by-step instructions for evaluating and managing primary care patients. . . [It] belongs in every NP and PA's reference library. I highly recommend this wonderful textbook." Maria T. Leik, MSN, FNP-BC, ANP-BC, GNP-BC President, National ARNP Services, Inc. "Family Practice Guidelines is an excellent resource for the busy clinician. It offers succinct, comprehensive information in an easy format that is particularly useful for quick reference. This text is useful for general practice settings as well as specialty care." Anne Moore, APN; WHNP/ANP-BC; FAANP Vanderbilt University The second edition of Family Practice Guidelines is a comprehensive resource for clinicians, presenting current national standard of care guidelines for practice, in addition to select 2011 guidelines. This clinical reference features detailed physical examination and diagnostic testing, information on health promotion, guidelines of care, dietary information, national resources for patient use, and patient education handouts all in one resource. This revised edition features guidelines for 246 disorders, each containing clearly outlined considerations for pediatric, pregnant, and geriatric patients. It also presents 18 procedures commonly performed in the clinical setting, including bedside cystometry, hernia reduction, neurological examination, and more. Patient Teaching Guides are also provided, and are designed to be given directly to patients as take home teaching supplements. Additionally, the book contains four appendices with guidelines on normal lab values, procedures, sexual maturity stages, and teeth. New to this Edition: Select 2011 guidelines Over 17 new protocols including: ADD/ADHD, Menopause, Migraine, Chronic Kidney Disease in Adults, Obesity/Gastric Bypass, and more Completely updated Patient Teaching Guides, including a new entry on Anticoagulation Therapy for Patients with AFib, to tear out and send home with patients Addition of consultation and referral recommendations New chapter presenting Pain Management Guidelines for acute and chronic pain Completely updated national treatment guidelines

This easy-to-use reference helps practitioners quickly diagnose common skin disorders and determine appropriate treatment options. More than 500 fullcolor images speed diagnosis by showing the reader distinguishing characteristics of each disorder, as well as providing clear comparisons between similar looking conditions. Features of the text include fornulary tables of leading topical agents and preparations by brand name, as well as patient handouts in English and Spanish. Basic derm rologic procedures are presented in a simple, easyto-understand format, making this guide an invaluable reference for office surgery. The Second Edition features new, larger photos, more patient handouts, and new material on several disorders. Also included is an expanded basic procedures section with new and more detailed procedures and more illustrations and photos of necessary equipment.