Primary Care for Physician Associates: Clinical frameworks commonly presented to physician associates in general practice

General practice (GP) throws up a mix of patients presenting with a whole range of confounding and complex symptoms. Once qualified as a physician associate (PA), if you choose to work in GP, you will be expected to deal with a variety of these patients. The PA curriculum is wide ranging and covers the plethora of medical specialities that GP PAs need to have knowledge of. This book was written with the GP PA in mind. It includes over 120 common symptoms that patients present with and that may also come up in your national exams.For each symptom, a comprehensive consultation framework has been included to guide you through the best approach for dealing with the presented complaint. This book has been specifically written to save you hours of time researching and it will hopefully become your companion to ease you through your exams and into your future as a fully fledged PA in primary care. This book includes guidance such as what questions to ask, eliciting relevant past medical history, social history, etc. The framework then guides you on which examinations would be relevant and what investigations should be requested.Each topic will also advise you about the possible differential diagnoses and evidence-based ways of managing these. We hope that you find this book to be a useful aid to help you excel in your exams and for you to continue to use well into your qualified PA years!