Preview of the Autumn 2014 Hot Topics GP Update Course

We are all very excited about our upcoming Autumn series of the Hot Topics GP Update course starting next month. We have been working very hard trawling through all the guidelines, research and papers for you finding the evidence which is recent, reliable and above all relevant to primary care.

Compared to previous editions of the course we will be covering slightly fewer topics, but in more detail.  When discussing controversial new guidelines (they’ve been a few recently!) we shall focus  on the primary research that underpins them, to help you and your patient make informed decisions about changes to practice.

All the presented Hot Topics will be new compared to Autumn  2014  so if you last came a year ago, do come back.

Topics which we will be presenting will include:

•  Polypharmacy, taking a safe, effective and evidence-based approach
• Cardiovascular disease

o   The new guidelines for Atrial Fibrillation, Statins & Lipids and Hypertension and the primary evidence that underpins them

•  Kidney: Chronic Kidney Disease and Acute Kidney Injury
• Diabetes

o   Personalizing HbA1c targets

o   What next after metformin?

•  End of Life Care and Palliative Care
•   Cancer, early diagnosis 
• Mental illness

o   Psychosis and Schizophrenia

o    The serotonin syndrome

o   Obsessive compulsive disorder

• Medically unexplained symptoms
• Chronic pain
• Simple musculoskeletal problems e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome, gout
• Paediatrics

o   Asthma and allergic rhinitis

• Gastroenterology

o   GORD and dyspepsia

• Abnormal blood tests

o   A new section on management of abnormal blood tests, including of Vit B12 deficiency

In addition:

• We have streamlined the paper book, and included more of our ever popular KISS (keep it simple) summaries.
• The electronic version of the book has been developed to become an invaluable resource to use during your working day. It is a PDF you can download onto all of your devices (computer, phone, tablet etc). It is instantly searchable. Original sources are hyperlinked, and the KISS summaries contain direct links to resources for you and your patients to make life easier for you.
• You will be emailed pre and post course MCQs so that you can test your knowledge and demonstrate your learning
• We have summarized the evidence in important areas related to service provision e.g. reducing unplanned admissions, efficacy of health checks and telephone triage

We focus on the things which are most likely to have an impact on your practice. A survey from our Spring 13 courses showed that 97% of our delegates changed practice as a result of the course, and over 70% use the course material at least weekly to find an evidence-based answer to a clinical problem.

As ever we also want you to have a relaxing and fun day out of the practice, so we will keep the atmosphere light, with some good new funny clips and we really hope you have an enjoyable day. With GPs being so busy, we are convinced that this model provides us the best way of practising patient-centred evidence based medicine. So, do come along and we look forward to seeing you next month!

Simon, Neal, Gail and Kevin