Family Medicine and Primary Care
Family Medicine and Primary Care tests longitudinal, person-centred care: screening, chronic disease control, preventive counselling, and appropriate referral. Expect hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, tobacco use, immunisation, and common infections.
Core rules
- Screening should follow age, sex, risk, and local programme eligibility; do not order panels indiscriminately.
- Chronic disease review includes adherence, home readings, complications, and lifestyle.
- Antibiotics are not indicated for uncomplicated viral upper respiratory infection.
- Tobacco cessation uses the 5A approach: ask, advise, assess, assist, arrange.
- Refer when red flags, diagnostic uncertainty, or specialist treatment is needed.
Worked example
A 45-year-old smoker with no symptoms asks for a “full check”. The reasoning is: assess cardiovascular risk, offer tobacco cessation, measure BP, lipid profile, and diabetes risk, and check vaccination status. Do not order tumour markers or whole-body imaging without indication. Brief advice plus pharmacotherapy and follow-up improves quit rates.
Traps that cost marks
- Over-investigating low-risk patients and missing actual preventive care.
- Treating purulent nasal discharge with antibiotics automatically.
- Recording BP without repeat measurement or home monitoring.
- Ignoring medication adherence before intensifying treatment.
- Missing red flags such as weight loss, dysphagia, or rectal bleeding.