Charles E. Driscoll and Edward T. Bope
Chicago: American Medical Association; 2003. 1035 pp US$49.95 (paper) ISBN 1-57947-190-0
Rating: ***
Audience: Family practice residents, family physicians
Content: Family practice is a discipline that truly spans the spectrum of medicine. This fact makes it a challenging task to compress into one complete and concise guide the breadth of information that family practitioners need. This book makes a valiant effort to do just that. It is intended to be a print version of the quick and snappy family practice desk references available for handheld computers. It hopes to guide the family practitioner or resident through “the necessary nuggets of information about the most common conditions encountered by family physicians.” Organized by life-cycle and body system, each chapter consists of only tables, figures and references.
Strengths: The full breadth of family practice is covered, including topics on emergency and surgical care. It has a good layout, useful algorithms and easy-to-find information in tables. It cuts to the chase, avoiding the exhaustive detail that surrounds a diagnostic workup. Let's face it: Who has time to read such detail in a busy family practice? Each table contains as much practical information as possible, for example by including pediatric dosages and options for drugs in pregnancy. Time that would be spent searching for another table is thus saved.
Limitations: Lab values are not in SI units, which is the standard most Canadian labs and clinicians use. This makes values difficult to interpret, and the extra effort required to find conversions defeats the purpose of a quick desk reference. Also, detail is lost in images, which appear in black and white. The chapter on “Practice Management and Enhancement” is not entirely relevant to Canadian practice. Overall, this is a good, practical book that merits its price, but a Canadian version would have been ideal.
Kuljit Sajjan Family Physician Vancouver, BC
This book is available through your local book retailer, or through the publisher at www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/8183-6716.html
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