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Pearls

Red Whale Pearls are our super useful weekly updates for GPs and other primary care clinicians - designed to turn tricky evidence and guidelines into practical advice for consultations, focus on important issues we shouldn't miss and make our lives easier! Sign up to receive our Pearls by email.

Let’s dance?

Dance isn’t just an art form; it’s a proven tool for physical and mental wellbeing. Backed by Angela Rippon and leading organisations including the NHS and BBC, we bring you, the Let’s Dance! initiative
6th February 2025
Trainees

Strengths and vulnerabilities in clinicians

For this month’s trainee pearl we are highlighting some personality traits you may recognise in yourself or in colleagues and will explore how to look after ourselves if we recognise any of these characteristics!
5th February 2025

NEW NICE guidance on menopause: what changed?

In this week’s Pearl, we unpack all 106 pages of the new NICE guidance on menopause, published in December 2024. Much stayed the same, but we focus on the bits that may change our practice!
30th January 2025

I got this new gadget… 

It’s been a week when tech and AI have been all over the news – so we thought we would share a Pearl from our Lifestyle Medicine course on technology to support health and wellbeing. 
16th January 2025
Trainees

Preparing for the SCA

It’s a new calendar year and, for some, this means increased focus in preparing for the Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA). So, this month, we’re providing a comprehensive Pearl that is all about the SCA!
15th January 2025

“I’ve got this awful cough…”

When under pressure, separating the sick from the self-limiting on the triage list can feel even more difficult! We don’t have all the answers, but, in this week’s Pearl, we wanted to share our article on acute cough and pneumonia in adults.
9th January 2025

Wintering… time to restore ourselves

For this week’s Pearl, the last of 2024, we wanted to share an article from our Lifestyle Medicine course. It offers a roadmap to wellbeing that we can use to support ourselves, family members and patients as we embark on 2025.
19th December 2024

Antibiotic prophylaxis for sexually transmitted infections

In 2021, the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) and UKHSA published a joint position statement against using antibiotics for STIs other than HIV. But what is our role in primary care if a patient approaches us for advice?
12th December 2024
Trainees

Chronic cough in children

There is also chronic cough in children to consider (cough that lasts more that 8 weeks), so we’ve provided a bonus resource this month!
4th December 2024
Trainees

Acute cough in children

In our waiting rooms, how can we best manage the increase in acute coughing in children that we see at this time of year? Here’s a great article that covers assessment, as well as discussing the important role of antibiotics!
4th December 2024

PSA testing in asymptomatic men

This emotive subject has been in the news and social media over the past few weeks, and there will have been many requests for PSA testing.
28th November 2024

Preparing for the worst…

End-of-life care can be one of the most rewarding parts of our jobs. It can also be one of the most stressful. In this week’s Pearl, we consider the important issue of bleeding and haemorrhage in advanced cancer.
14th November 2024