South African Family Practice Manual is a practical text that focuses on the “how to” of working in the district health services. It includes the core skills required of family physicians, which registrars in family medicine need to acquire during their training, as well as additional skills relevant to family practice in different settings. It is also relevant to other clinicians working in district health services, such as medical officers, general practitioners, nurse practitioners and clinical associates, in both primary health care and district hospital environments. The majority of skills are clinical and cover health promotion, disease prevention, therapeutics and interventions, rehabilitation and palliative care for both adults and children. There are also sections that deal with skills related tosupporting community-oriented primary care, clinical training and teaching as well as leadership and clinical governance.
South African Family Practice Manual is a project of the South African Academy of Family Physicians, which is the national professional body for family medicine, and has been a key resource for family medicine training in this country as well as many others across Africa. This fourth edition has three new section editors and a wide variety of new authors to ensure that the content is relevant to the next generation of family physicians. New topics have been added, such as history taking in sexual health, point-of-care ultrasound, helping people with impairments, and mentoring and helping the learner in difficulty. All chapters have been revised to ensure that they are up to date.
South African Family Practice Manual is relevant for medical students, interns, medical officers, registrars, general practitioners and family physicians, as well as nurse practitioners and clinical associates, all of whom will find many of the skills essential to their development and practice.