A brief, informal overview of the Physician's Primer

Both Drs. Friedman and Gurwitt informed the audience that the IACFS/ME Physician Primer was nearing completion and its release is expected during early 2012. A few things which they could share about the Primer, at this time, was why it was created, who it is intended for, what is its purpose, and its content (in a very general sense), as follows:

• it is a practice manual, written by a group of physicians, specifically for primary care physicians so they would have the necessary information to be able to diagnose ME/CFS
• it offers specific treatment recommendations, informs a physician of his/her responsibilities to the patient, and makes recommendations when it is appropriate to refer the patient to specialists
• it is geared for adult patients and does not include any information for pediatric care, but future plans are to compile a pediatric version
• it will be recommending the Canadian Case Definition for ME/CFS and it will not be using the 2011 International Consensus Criteria for ME because it is new and not clear how it will compare or do clinically (referring to what Dr. Friedman mentioned earlier in his presentation)

Drs. Friedman and Gurwitt reiterated the Physician Primer is a concise, very dense and highly technical handbook-for physicians and not intended for patient use.

When the IACFS/ME is ready to release the Physician Primer, MassCFIDS will send out an announcement via our E-newsletter and post the news on the website.