CURRENT Practice Guidelines in Primary Care 2024 is written for all clinicians seeking easy access to updated evidence-based guidelines for primary care topics in ambulatory and hospital settings. This handy reference consolidates guideline information from national medical associations and government agencies into concise recommendations covering virtually all primary care topics. This book is organized into topics related to screening and prevention and disease management, and further subdivided into organ systems for quick reference to the evaluation and treatment of the most common primary care disorders.
The 2024 edition of CURRENT Practice Guidelines in Primary Care contains updates reflecting the review of more than 150 new guidelines. There are important updates to several guidelines including the screening/prevention of ASCVD, anxiety disorders in children, pediatric obesity, and breast cancer, and the management of heart failure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, chronic pain disorders, and osteoarthritis. This edition also includes several new topics including screening and prevention of eating disorders; COVID vaccination in pregnancy; prevention of pelvic floor dysfunction; and management of chest pain, left ventricular thrombus, delirium, anal fissures, gastroparesis, interstitial cystitis, uterine fibroids, perioperative anticoagulation, the febrile newborn, molluscum contagiosum, acute otitis media, trichomoniasis, pediatric urinary tract infections, TIA, neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, induction of labor, actinic keratosis, melanoma, and clavicular fractures, chronic hip pain, and chronic shoulder pain. Residents, medical students, mid-level providers, and practicing physicians in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology alike will find it a great resource.
Several guidelines include race as a consideration in the approach to care. As purportedly scientific mechanisms to explain racial differences in outcomes can be rooted in biased data, guidelines that suggest differentiating care by race should be considered with caution. Drs. Vyas, Einstein, and Jones offer a thoughtful assessment at N Engl J Med 2020;383:847-882 (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMms2004740).
Although painstaking efforts have been made to find all errors and omissions, some may remain. If you find an error or wish to suggest a change, please contact McGraw Hill: www.mhprofessional.com/contact-us.
Evidence-based guidelines such as those reviewed in this book are wonderful tools. They enable management strategies to be standardized and disseminated to a broad swath of the medical profession. At their best, they offer immediate access to the wisdom and analytical approach to data-driven medical care employed by the experts, elevating the quality of our care. But, as with any human endeavor, they are susceptible to bias and misunderstanding. While evidence-based guidelines increasingly dictate the standards for our clinical practice, the highest quality medical care will always derive from a clinician's experience, curiosity, critical thinking, compassion, and personal relationship with a patient. In that spirit, please use the tools in this book to further hone your craft.
This book is dedicated to all our current and former residents at the Ventura County Medical Center.
Jacob A. David, MD, FAAFP