Typically, new developments in primary care are more likely to translate into extra work for physicians' offices. However, 2016 saw some exceptions.
Back in May came the news that there is no longer any need to ask patients to fast in preparation for cholesterol checks, while other stories revealed some techniques that could make a doctor's job much easier when it comes to patient diagnoses.
However, the past year in primary care has not been without flaws. According to one study, the burden of medical error should be measured as if it were a disease.
In this article, we take a look at the top news stories that have had the biggest impact on general practitioners (GPs) in 2016.
Tackling antimicrobial resistance
Meanwhile, inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing has persisted, leading the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue advice in the Annals of Internal Medicine in January.
Common colds, uncomplicated bronchitis, sore throats, and sinus infections may create a lot of demand in primary care, but the organizations offer some advice in an effort to combat antibiotic resistance and drug spending.
To help with patient information, the paper suggests the use of the "symptomatic prescription pad." The CDC have print-ready examples on their website.
Another tool that might improve antibiotic prescription is an office test that distinguishes viral infections from bacterial ones - but how practical and cost-effective would this be?
Researchers at Duke Medicine in Durham, NC, published results of such a test in January.
They are working to priorities established by President Barack Obama in 2014 to improve diagnostics, and they say that their gene expression blood test is a step toward this goal. However:
"The technical hurdle to transfer these targets to a reliable, timely, affordable, and accessible platform remains."
Improving patient care
Study suggests doctors ignore women's heart health
As a physician, you always want to do the best for each patient. Therefore, a study published in March is likely to have come as a blow to many GPs, after finding that many women feel that doctors ignore their heart health.
Presented at the American College of Cardiology's 65th Annual Scientific Session, the study surveyed more than 1,000 women, asking them what health advice they received from their physicians.
Around 34 percent of the women had been told by their doctor to lose weight, while only 16 percent were informed that they were at risk of heart disease - despite 74 percent of them having at least one risk factor for the condition.
Study co-author Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz, of the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in California, says that the findings are a concern.
"Women feel stigmatized. They are most often told to lose weight rather than have their blood pressure and blood cholesterol checked," he notes.
"If women don't think they're going to get heart disease, and they're being told by society and their doctors that everything would be fine if they just lost weight, that explains the paradox of why women aren't going in for the recommended heart checks. Who wants to be told to lose weight?"
Helping patients manage their medications
On the subject of older adults, a study characterized many elderly patients who may need help managing medications.
A brief scale can help to identify those who may need help with medication, found researchers who were publishing in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in June.
The factors that proved predictive were an age of 75 years or older, male sex, memory problems, and problems with daily living tasks.
The factors are based on the finding that people aged 80 and over were up to three times more likely to need help with medicines than 65- to 69-year-olds. Men were up to twice as likely to need help as women, while memory problems increased the likelihood by up to fivefold.
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