Doody's Review Service

Reviewer:	Amanda Rhyne, MD (Salina Family Healthcare Center)

Description
This book consists of a broad range of medical topics including geriatric disorders, obstetric disorders, multiple infectious disease chapters, and substance use disorders. Most chapters begin with an 'Essential Inquiries' or 'Essentials of Diagnosis' box, which provides a concise summary of the section to follow. Tables are frequently used to enhance the text. There are 45 chapters with six additional chapters available online without a subscription. Commonly used subsections include symptoms and signs, laboratory findings, imaging, treatment, and when to refer or when to admit. The breakdown of each chapter, along with color photos and figures, allows for pointed subject review or thorough topic review. Each year, the book begins with a "Year in Review: Key Clinical Updates", which helps to capture pertinent changes in content from the previous publishing. This is the 64th edition of the book, which is updated annually.

Purpose
The purpose of this book is to provide a single-source reference for practitioners, both inpatient and outpatient. The book focuses on clinical diagnosis and management, with the goal of being an educational tool for learners, and a ready reference or refresher text for more experienced clinicians. This book is needed in adult medicine, as it covers a large breadth of conditions in a format that is both concise and appropriately thorough. It meets its objectives due to its easily navigated layout -- allowing students to review areas of struggle, but also providing a quick reference that covers over 1000 diseases and disorders. Although not all consumers will seek out a textbook, the authors have also provided additional online chapters and a searchable online library through AccessMedicine with video and audio content.

Audience
This book's audience is anybody in the medical field that has a focus in adult medicine, inpatient or outpatient. The preface mentions that the content may also be used for patients and their family members, to assist with better understanding of specific diseases, diagnosis, and treatment. Although it is a stretch to make this information utilizable by non-medical personnel, it is formatted in a way that provides adequate data on common medical topics to many levels of experience. This book is a conglomeration of multiple authors with direct clinical experience in their designated chapter content. That includes Professors, Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, Chief Health Information Officers, amongst many other titles. In the dedication section, it is also noted that Dr. Stephen J. McPhee has been the editor of this book for the last 35 years and was previously an author of the chapter 'Disease Prevention and Health Promotion'.

Features
This book is a catch-all text for those involved in the care of adult patients. It covers a broad array of topics from multiple anatomical systems from management of preterm labor and the specifics of magnesium sulfate dosing to a colorful table of androgen deprivation for prostate cancer medications with common dosing. Despite the density of the text if looking for a specific topic, a quick skim is easily achievable. Not only does each topic have the 'essentials of diagnosis' box to give quick information, but there is also a fair amount of bolded text that allows for easier navigation of the index. The book contains many high yield tables and charts but does fall short in the number of color photos included. The dermatologic disorders chapter contains multiple color photos embedded within, allowing for a more thorough understanding of these individual conditions. Over the last two editions, the book has expanded its cardiac content from "Heart Disease" as the stand along chapter, to include "Coronary Artery Disease, Valvular Disease, & Other Key Topics in Cardiology", "Heart Failure & Cardiomyopathy", and "Disorders of Cardiac Rhythm". It also added the chapter on "Substance Use Disorders", which speaks to the constant reevaluation of important topics in general medicine.

Assessment
This book fulfills its purpose of being a single-source reference for common adult medical conditions. There are comparable titles that exist, including *Conn's Current Therapy*, Kellerman and Heidelbaugh (Elsevier, 2025) which attempt to cover a large breadth of medical topics. There are also many online resources that attempt to reach this same population of learners and experienced clinicians, including UpToDate. The clinical updates section and the addition and expansion of chapters on cardiology and substance use disorders indicates that the content is being frequently reviewed and adjusted to keep the most up to date evidence readily accessible.