We all have different learning styles and these are dependent on our learning needs and meeting them are partly dictated by the available resources. Whilst there is no substitute ( in my opinion) to learning from real patients , we do rely on a lot of other resources. Having worked in General Practice for six months only, I found myself searching for new information every day. A lady on SSRIs finds out she is pregnant and wants me to tell her what is the best course of action from here on, a middle aged man presents with a painful shoulder and I am thinking " is this frozen shoulder or rotator cuff? ", a teenager on COC presents with headache - what do I do ? , a diabetic gentleman on treatment for prostatism presents with impotence. These are the bread and butter presentations of general practice, but as a new trainee I feel lost at times. Hospital medicine does not always prepare you for these cases. After working for six years in paediatrics I thought I would not need any further learning in this field but I was rightly (and thankfully) proved wrong in the first month itself. Six months down the line I feel slightly more comfortable with similar cases and I have learnt it all in the surgery with the help of my trainer during tutorials, talking to other partners who cover me during surgeries and from the nursing staff.

These are some of the resources that I find most useful and easy to digest :

1. GP Notebook : This is well known and often used. The best thing about this is that it is available online and gives you most of the information at the click of the mouse whilst you are consulting. I found myself asking the patients if they would mind me looking up the latest evidence online and none of them seemed to mind, though at times it did disrupt the consultation. There are times when you do not want to be picking up the phone for the nth time that day and this almost never fails. The added benefit is the link to the relevant NICE guideline and patient leaflet on the topic page. Hats off to the folks behind this website. Brilliant !

2. Oxford Handbook of General Practice : This is the bible of general practice. This was the first book I bought and probably the most useful as well. There was a stage when I was not using it as I relied a lot more on gpnotebook and it was lying on the back seat of my Polo for a few weeks. As I began my AKT / CSA preparation, I found myself attracted to it thanks to its layout and succint coverage of topics. The one thing which made me not use it earlier was that the NICE guidelines were taking over my life and this was not uptodate enough. But I now realise that 99% of information , esp regarding diagnosis is very relevant and it never ever gets boring. And when the internet is down or you are on a visit, it is there with you. One of the co-authors is now on the editorial team of Innovait. For the technically inclined, it is also available for PDAs. The Palm and Pocket PC versions install on the PDA but Blackberry and iPhone users have to use the online access through Unbound Medicine. If one can afford it, the £20 for the PDA version would be worth it, especially if you have 3G on your phone. WiFi access is useless as most patients do not have wi-fi at homes and the practices block wi-fi access due to security issues.

3. Innovait : Atlast a journal for trainees. If you ever subscribe to one journal through your GP training, let it be this one. At less than £30 for 12 issues, this is worth every penny. It is totally trainee focussed, the topics are in keeping with the curriculum and the presentation easy to digest. There are AKT questions for those sitting the exams and you are able to do more questions online ( free web access to all issues included ) on the website. I believe trainees can contribute articles as well. Infact, with Revalidation coming soon for all GPs, I would not be surprised if it is used by non trainees as a useful resource to keep up to date.

4. RCGP News ( and the main journal) : The RCGP News is more of a newpaper of the college but hidden in it are real gems of clinical importance in the guise of "Clinical Updates". These are short articles by various professionals on different topics. I got my answer regarding anti-depressants in pregnancy from one such article. It takes no more than 10 minutes to read an update and this can be entered as a reading in the eportfolio as well. It comes free with the journal but those who do not get the journal can access it free online ( link provided). The main journal appeals to me for its " Backpages" as there are always interesting articles and blogs. The most useful clinical thing was a one page article called "Top Tips" and this was a good digest to print off and keep on the pin board in your consulting room. Unfortunately, the last few issues have not featured this.

5. BNF : Unsurprisingly, BNF is the most frequent resource I use. Everyday. Whilst it guides prescription, it also contains clinical information on the relevant condition. Things like fungal infections, Angina, psychotropic drugs and anti-coagulants are pretty well covered. AKT features atleast 2 questions straight out of the BNF.

6. BMJ : There are only so many journals one can read. I do not read most of the articles, but the " 10 minute consultations" are directly relevant to GPs and on the whole it is a readable journal with some good articles on ethics, etc.

This is my list of frequently used resources of learning. This might change with time but at present I do not find myself looking for others. There are many other very good journals and books. It would be nice to know what others read / use.

gp registrar learning resourcesnmrcgp, gp trainee vts