Clinical examination - Owen Epstein

Clinical Examination 3/e provides all those learning how to interview and examine a patient with clear, practical guidance on all aspects of history taking and patient examination. The book serves both as an exam revision guide and as a primer before going out on to wards, or into primary care setting.

Clinical Examination 3/e is designed to be accessible both to medical students starting their clinical attachments and to more experienced readers. This best-selling textbook has been translated into 7 languages thanks to its consistent approach and clear writing style. The innovative use of clinical photographs and the specially commissioned explanatory illustrations combine to clarify the concepts and skills necessary to take a history and perform an examination.

The text is organized by body system, with each chapter structured the same way: firstly, underlying structure and function; secondly, signs, symptoms and abnormalities; thirdly, patient examination.

Numerous Icon boxes are integrated throughout the text provide:

Differential diagnosis boxes summarize the common causes of clinical abnormalities
Emergency boxes outline the implications for history and examination of certain clinical emergencies
Examination of elderly people boxes guide the reader through the particular difficulties and differences encountered when examining the elderly
Questions to ask boxes list the key questions to ask the patient to help reach a diagnosis
Review boxes summarize the most important points to remember about the examination of each body system.
Risk factors boxes give the basic information on the risk factors associated with a particular disease.
Symptoms and signs boxes provide the core clinical features of the diseases and disorders