Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death for men and women in this country, surpassing deaths due to all cancers combined. Better awareness of heart disease risk factors and improved treatment modalities has produced great progress in reducing deaths due to myocardial infarction and stroke over the past few decades. Still, more progress is needed, as about half of all first coronary events occur in individuals who have no cardiac symptoms and no previously diagnosed heart disease. The primary care physician, therefore, has an important role in identifying at risk individuals...

O ObivoV brac ?vV, eJ de teJcnh makrhv Life is short, the] art long --Hippocrates Pediatric Interviewing: A Practical, Relationship Based Approach by James Binder is filled with a unique blend of wisdom, experience, and evidence, which will serve as a guide and as a reminder that what comes first in the care of the patient is the language and the silences that are shared between patient and physician. The medical interview quickly establishes the type of caring relati- ship the two will share. In this age of electronic medical records, pay-forperformance, and evidence-based medicine it is...

Physician adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) has become a national priority. It is said that EMRs have the potential to greatly improve patient care, to provide the data needed for more effective population management and quality assurance of both an individual practice's patients and well as patients of large health care systems, and the potential to create efficiencies that allow physicians to provide this improved care at a far lower cost than at present. There is currently a strong U.S. government push for physicians to adopt EMR technology, with the Obama administration...

Primary Care in Sleep Medicine: A Practical Guide, edited by James F. Pagel and S. R. Pandi-Perumal, is an important book coming at an important time for the increasing number of patients with sleep disorders who are seen in primary care practices. The importance of primary care physicians having more in-depth education and training in sleep medicine has been emphasized in the Institute of Medicine report, Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation An Unmet Public Health Problem, issued in April 2006. This landmark report estimates that 50 to 70 million Americans chronically suffer from a sleep...

Bone Densitometry in Growing Patients is the first resource available for expert opinion on the use of dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for evaluating bone density in children and adolescents. Written by internationally recognized pediatric bone researchers and clinicians, this volume is unique in its specific attention to the myriad challenges of measuring and evaluating bone density in the pediatric patient. There is sufficient technical detail presented in this volume to enable the establishment of a pediatric DXA center or the proper utilization of DXA scan information in current...

This book clearly elucidates many of the key issues found in the disparate literature on sex-based differences in health and illness. It provides primary care clinicians with a practical, up-to-date source of information that can lead to optimal, targeted care for women. Among the topics examined in this comprehensive volume are treating and preventing osteoporosis, diabetes, cervical cancer, eating disorders, and more.

I opened my series editor manuscript of The Handbook of Contraception: A Guide for Practical Management, edited by Drs. Donna Shoupe and Siri Kjos, on a tiny plane on the way to giving a lecture in Albany, NY. I expected to peruse the ma- script, and found that I could not put it down. The Handbook of Contraception: A Guide for Practical Management is an incredibly informative and enjoyable read. In keeping with the objective of this series for primary care clinicians, there is a quality in this title that is uncommon among medical textbooks. The chapters of this book are written with...

Thyroid Disease: A Case-Based and Practical Guide for Primary Care, by Dr. Emanuel Brams, is a supremely readable cased-based approach to understanding the myriad of disorders that encompass thyroid disease. Using cases derived from his busy practice, Dr. Brams gives us the history and physical examination details of each case, along with test results. Then, through a series of questions similar to that which any good clinician asks while caring for a patient, Dr. Brams explains an optimal approach to diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of thyroid disease, with an emphasis on the practical...

This book provides an easy to use, practical, yet comprehensive resource for family practitioners to use in the daily struggle against infectious diseases. It discusses vaccines and preventive measures as well as information on how to reduce the incidence of antimicrobial-resistant organisms by judiciously prescribing antibiotics and informing patients about the appropriate use of these agents. This up-to-date overview is a one stop source for evidence-based guidelines.

The diagnosis and treatment of common dermatologic problems is a critical area of skill and knowledge for primary care physicians. According to the US Department of 1 Health and Human Services, patients present to their physicians a skin rash as their chief concern for nearly 12 million office visits each year. In 73% of these office visits, patients see their internist, family physician, or pediatrician. In this respect, astonishingly, primary care clinicians see far more skin disease in their offices than dermatologists. Dermatology Skills for Primary Care: An Illustrated Guide advances the...