RACGP launches 8th edition of its ‘Red Book’

The RACGP has launched its 8th edition of the RACGP Guidelines for preventive activities in general practice, commonly referred to as the College’s ‘Red Book’.

The Red Book maintains developmental rigour, editorial independence, relevance and applicability to general practice, making the content highly valuable to GPs and practice teams. Designed to assist GPs in deciphering and filtering available evidence in a way that helps guide their clinical practice, the 8th edition Red Book will be available as easy to search and navigate online HTML pages, and as a PDF on the College website. To view the guidelines online, visit www.racgp.org.au/your-practice/guidelines/redbook/

The Guidelines for preventive activities in general practice 8th edition (the red book) is a synthesis of evidence-based guidelines from Australian and international sources and provides recommendations for everyday use in general practice. The red book provides a single entry point to common conditions seen in Australian general practice and offers practical advice on the kind of screening and services that should be provided to the general population. This new, updated edition:

  • conforms to the highest evidence-based standards
  • equips general practitioners and their teams with a comprehensive and concise set of recommendations for patients in general practice, with additional information about tailoring risk and need
  • provides recommendations based on current, evidence-based guidelines for preventive activities, focusing on those most relevant to Australian general practice
  • includes screening activities where evidence has demonstrated that benefits outweigh harms, as many preventive activities have the potential to be associated with harm
  • provides the evidence base for which primary health care resources can be used efficiently and effectively, while providing a rational basis to ensure the best use of time and other resources in general practice.