FP Essentials, FP Audio Get New Look

Subscribers to AAFP's Home Study program might have noticed the most recent FP Essentials monograph -- the June edition -- has a new look. The changes were made at the request of Home Study program subscribers and come at no additional subscription cost.

According to Barry Weiss, M.D., FP Essentials medical editor and professor of family and community medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tuscon, the monograph is shorter, better organized and easier to read. It highlights what FPs need to know to provide the most up-to-date care to patients and what new diagnostic techniques and treatments are in the works.

In addition, for FP Audio listeners, the booklet that accompanies the monthly audiotape also has changed. It's bigger, and it's organized into four sections: "Clinical Topic," "SAM (self-assessment module) Pearls," "Journal Notes" and "Board Review Minute."

This is the first redesign of FP Essentials and the FP Audio booklet since the Home Study program started in 1978. And it's a timely one, Weiss said.

"Medicine is different from what it was 30 years ago, and the way clinicians get information, and the information they need, is also very different," said Weiss. "So while the program is still reading-based, lots of changes were needed to modernize it."

A feature recently added to the monograph -- "Key Practice Recommendations" -- also has been enhanced to provide suggestions and advice on how to incorporate findings from the latest studies and clinical information into practice. The recommendations are rated according to the strength and quality of patient-oriented or disease-oriented evidence on which they are based.

The new FP Essentials format retains the monographs' tried-and-true elements, including learning objectives, tables and figures, information for readers, and pretest and posttest questions and answers.

Each monograph's evidence-based content continues to be written, edited and peer-reviewed by FPs who represent all facets of family medicine, said Weiss. A new editorial board selects topics to ensure family physicians get the latest clinical knowledge and skills they need to provide quality patient care, upgrade existing clinical knowledge, earn CME credit and review for American Board of Family Medicine certification/recertification exams.