The family physician is frequently the first point of contact for a patient’s medical problems, which may include a wide spectrum of presentations and diseases.

Malignancy is an important cause of morbidity and mortality, and family physicians have an important role to play, including preventive care, early detection of cancers, symptoms exploration, diagnosis confirmation, counselling about referral and treatment options, disease monitoring, treatment of co-morbidities and support for the patient and the family.¹ In this issue, we have included a paper by Chan¹ who shared with us during a recent Hong Kong International Cancer Congress seminar on her perspective in caring for cancer patients in the community. Chan conducted a retrospective review of her cancer patients and the services that she was able to offer. She also highlighted the importance of early detection of the cancer, collaboration with the local clinical oncology and palliative care teams, and an integrated multidisciplinary approach in the management and the provision of support for the cancer patient and the family.

Smoking is one of the most important cause of preventable deaths worldwide; around half of the smokers would die of smoking related diseases in due course.² Therefore, smoking cessation is an important public health initiative. It is also highly relevant to primary care clinical practice in the combat against many diseases. Smoking cessation can be conducted effectively in the primary care setting with relevant training. Wong et al ² conducted a retrospective study on comparing the quit rates of different modalities of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The study found that various forms of NRT are effective in enhancing the quit rate of committed smokers.

Depression is commonly encountered in the primary care setting, despite it being less obvious at the initial stage. Wong³ presented a comprehensive update on the management of depressive disorders, illustrating the diagnostic criteria, risk assessment, and treatment options for various patient groups in the community. This paper serves as a timely update for practising primary care clinicians.

Care coordination is one of the key roles for primary care physicians. For this to succeed, effective collaboration with community health partners (including other hospital specialists and smoking cessation counsellors) must be in place. We hope that this issue will arouse the interests of readers on further enhancing future collaborative care.

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References