[.ca] The Most Common Inpatient Problems in Internal Medicine: ... (ISBN 1416032037)

Preface from the book - submitted by one of the co-authors:
Are you a medical student, intern, or resident who is (or will be) caring for patients on the medical ward? Do you find it challenging to locate practical and pertinent information about many of the common inpatient medical conditions? If your answers to these questions are "yes," then this book is for you! Not too long ago, we were trying to learn the basic principles for the day-to-day care of medical inpatients. We found that review articles and book chapters provided an overview of medical topics but often lacked specific information directly applicable to patient care. Frequently, we also had difficulty determining the relevance of findings from original journal articles, especially when there were prior conflicting studies. As a result, we learned a vast amount of practical inpatient medicine from our co-interns, residents, fellows, and staff physicians. These teachers explained how to choose a dose of intravenous furosemide for our patient with decompensated heart failure or how to calculate the dose of subcutaneous insulin for a patient with resolving diabetic ketoacidosis. Basic concepts such as these have often been frustratingly difficult to acquire from other sources. Until now. Our book, "The Most Common Inpatient Problems in Internal Medicine", provides practical and pertinent information for the most common medical problems encountered on the hospital ward. The chapters cover basic principles that every house officer should know, emphasizing "bread-and-butter" medicine. You will find useful information about common disorders you see everyday, including heart failure, pancreatitis, hyperkalemia, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, acute renal failure, hyponatremia, and unstable angina. After reading this book, you will have a solid foundation upon which to build your knowledge as you advance in your career. You will find answers to the following types of questions: * What rate and type of intravenous fluid should I administer to my patient with acute, symptomatic hyponatremia? * Does my patient have iron deficiency anemia or anemia of chronic disease? * How do I teach my patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to use a spacer for delivery of her inhaled glucocorticoids? * How do I differentiate aspiration pneumonia from chemical pneumonitis and do these patients require antibiotics? * How can I determine whether my patient's renal failure is acute or chronic when prior serum creatinine measurements are unavailable? * My patient with suspected pulmonary embolism has a normal first-generation lung computed tomography (CT) scan -- what should I do next? Each chapter is divided into sections that cover the epidemiology, pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, laboratory abnormalities, diagnosis, and management of the disorder under discussion. A "Key Points" box at the beginning of each chapter highlights some important take-home messages. Tables and figures clarify important and complex concepts. Each chapter ends with a list of references, which can also be used by those who wish to further their knowledge in specific areas. We hope that you will enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed writing it. Best of luck in your career! John C. Sun, MD San Francisco, California Hylton V. Joffe, MD Washington, District of Columbia The book includes a foreword by Joel T. Katz, MD, Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.