DDDDDDDDDDDD Effective management logically follows accurate diagnosis.
Such logic often is difficult to apply in practice. Absolute diagnostic
accuracy may not be possible, particularly in the field of primary care,
when management has to be on analysis of symptoms and on knowledge of
the individual patient and family. This series follows that on Problems
in Practice which was con- cerned more with diagnosis in the widest
sense and this series deals more definitively with general care and
specific treatment of symp- toms and diseases. Good management must
include knowledge of the nature, course and outcome of the conditions,
as well as prominent clinical features and assessment and
investigations, but the em- phasis is on what to do best for the
patient. Family medical practitioners have particular difficu1ties and
ad- vantages in their work_ Because they often work in professional
isolation in the community and deal with relatively small numbers of
near-normal patients their experience with the more serious and more
rare conditions is restricted. They find it difficult to remain
up-to-date with medical advances and even more difficult to decide on
the suitability and application of new and relatively untried methods
compared with those that are 'old' and well proven. Their advantages are
that because of long-term continuous care for their patients they have
come to know them and their families FOREWORD well and are able to
become familiar with the more common and less serious diseases of their
communities.