Main description:

Despite the advanced technologies at our disposal today, a complete health history and physical examination remain the most crucial diagnostic tools in any healthcare practitioner's arsenal. And no one teaches these all-important skills better than Mark H. Swartz, MD, FACP. For nearly two decades, Dr. Swartz's textbook has shown readers how to derive the maximum diagnostic information from interviewing and examining patients. Using a compassionate, humanistic approach, Dr. Swartz explores how cultural differences can influence communication, diet, family relationships, and health practices and beliefs, and demonstrates that your interpersonal awareness is just as essential in physical diagnosis as your level of technical skill. In this 6th Edition, a new chapter on the focused physical exam prepares you for the USMLE Step 2 CS and the OSCE. Over 3 hours of video on DVD demonstrate how to examine adult male and female patients as well as pediatric and geriatric patients. Plus you can access the complete contents of the book online at www.studentconsult.com.

Contents:

Section I The Art of Interviewing

Chapter 1 The Interviewer's Questions

Chapter 2 The Patient's Responses

Chapter 3 Caring for Patients in a Culturally Diverse Society

Chapter 4 Understanding Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Chapter 5 Assessment of Nutritional Status

Chapter 6 Putting the History Together

Section II The Science of the Physical Examination

Chapter 7 The Physical Examination

Chapter 8 The Skin

Chapter 9 The Head and Neck

Chapter 10 The Eye

Chapter 11 The Ear and Nose

Chapter 12 The Oral Cavity and Pharynx

Chapter 13 The Chest

Chapter 14 The Heart

Chapter 15 The Peripheral Vascular System

Chapter 16 The Breast

Chapter 17 The Abdomen

Chapter 18 Male Genitalia and Hernias

Chapter 19 Female Genitalia

Chapter 20 The Musculoskeletal System

Chapter 21 The Nervous System

Chapter 22 Putting the Examination Together

Section III Evaluation of Specific Patients

Chapter 23 The Pregnant Patient

Chapter 24 The Pediatric Patient

Chapter 25 The Geriatric Patient

Chapter 26 The Acutely Ill Patient

Section IV Putting the Data to Work

Chapter 27 Diagnostic Reasoning in Physical Diagnosis

Chapter 28 The Clinical Record

Chapter 29 Focusing on the Focused History and Physical Examination

Epilogue

Appendix A Commonly Abused Drugs

Appendix B Signs and Symptoms in Deficiency States

Appendix C Conversion Tables