Current Medical Therapy

The first few chapters deal with some broad considerations in primary care, including obtaining appropriate laboratory data, dealing with the person in pain, and assessing nutritional status. These are followed by a number of chapters, which comprise the bulk of the book and are organized by systems. Each chapter gives common presenting symptoms, diagnosis, and management in roughly 15 to 20 pages. Much use is made of tables, which are generally quite effective, covering differential diagnoses, interpretation of tests, and therapeutic approaches. Great emphasis is placed on determining when hospitalization is appropriate for a given disorder, an area which may be confusing for the inexperienced physician. A noteworthy chapter by Frederick T. Sherman on the care of the elderly also raises a number of issues germane to inpatient care as well. He discusses physician bias toward the elderly, reversible communication disorders which are often overlooked, and multiple illnesses which need to be addressed individually. His appraoch to the evaluation of two problems-reversible dementia and urinary incontinence-serve as good examples of approaches to problems particular to the aged. Each chapter contains a brief bibliography of current work. The text concludes with an appendix which contains a great deal of useful information. This book is highly recommended to both students and residents dealing with primary care, as it will help to fill an important gap in medical education.