Product Description

The essential emergency medicine reference! Covers the gamut of emergency medicine practice in brief, clinically focused chapters. New to this edition are chapters on bioterroism and weapons of mass destruction, pharmacology of antimicrobials, antifungals, and antivirals, principles of drug interactions, endocarditis, and abdominal and pelvic pain in the non-pregnant patient. Pharmacologic considerations, tables of vital differential diagnoses, and observation criteria throughout are new features reflecting developments in this dynamic specialty.

"considered by most in the discipline to be a bible of emergency medicine"
--Journal of Family Medicine, review of fourth edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35821 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 2016 pages

From the Back Cover
Packing a remarkable amount of information in a compact format, this Handbook gives you an effective condensation of the clinical content of Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine, the premier text in the field. In these pages, you'll find well-organized: charts, tables, and outlines summarizing key points; pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of all conditions encountered in the emergency room; new coverage of clinical protocols, fluid resuscitation, respiratory distress in children, and pelvic pain; chapter references to Emergency Medicine, 5th Edition for expanded review. One of the most popular sources in emergency medicine, this Companion Handbook helps you prepare efficiently for exams and serves as a convenient, comprehensive on-the-job reference.

About the Author
The editors are eager to proceed with this new venture and will receive enthusiastic support from the emergency medicine community. Judy Tintinalli will continue as editor-in-chief and will devote a significant amount of time to setting up the editorial system, helping us define features, and securing sources for multimedia content. In addition our plan is to develop a separate online editorial advisory board with some representation from residents and younger Internet savvy MD’s. ACEP’s role in the project has not yet been established but will be defined after presentation of this proposal to Editorial Board. The editors for this project will be the same as the book although we will consider the addition of others in our forthcoming planning meeting.

Gabor D. Kelen, MD, Professor and Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

J. Stephan Stapczynski, MD, Professor and Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky

Customer Reviews

Downward Spiral on Autopilot
*Emergency Medicine, A Comprehensive Study Guide* has long been a well-regarded standard emergency text, useful in day-to-day practice as well as for board preparation. This new edition has advanced the enlightened 'evidence-based recommendations' for changes in practice patterns, however, the lack of editorial control has resulted in a book packed with conflicting information. Each chapter is written by a different consultant, and unfortunately not all of them are up on this concept... we therefore get a series of conflicting statements when there is overlap in topics, and there is no attempt to reconcile this variability. Admittedly, opinions in much of medicine do vary; but outright conflict within a few pages in a standard text without discussion does harm to credibility.

Further loss of editorial control is also evident on a close read. It is apparent that a spell-checker was used for proof-reading (substitutions of the nature of "week" for "weak" abound) and in some areas clinical formulae have been mis-stated -- example: calculation of effective osmolarity, pg. 1341 (though correct elsewhere in the book). The index seems somewhat disorganized, with references to isolated appearance of a word (example: see *first* reference listing to "hyperglycemia"... certainly not the definitive source in the text). This problem is not isolated.

The book has expanded by approximately 500 pages over the 4th edition, totalling more than 2000 pages. Its size makes it unwieldly to read or carry; it should have been separated into 2 volumes. Even with that expansion, much useful information is missing. Though descriptions of EKG abnormalities in advanced electrolyte disturbance are adequately described, it certainly would have been an informational asset to actually include a picture of such characteristic tracings. Dermatology is similarly poorly pictured -- there are only 8 pages of color illustrations in the text, with nearly 2 pages wasted on 1)technique of foreign body removal (not needed in color) 2)a color demonstration of SPECT data -- well outside the range of information needed for the E.M. specialist, and not definitive, besides. Even worse, the illustrations interspersed in the dermatology section are simply black and white copies of the color text -- providing only suboptimal repetition.

Bottom line: the *Comprehensive Study Guide* has been, and remains, a valuable text for an overview of the practice of emergency medicine; but either keep your 4th edition, or wait for the 6th.

This book gets better with every new edition!
If you have the 4th edition, you must upgrade to this new edition. Gone are the poorly reproduced photographs in the last edition. Instead, there are many new tables, colour photos, and MANY new flowcharts. Every chapter is packed with new practical insights. For example, the asthma chapter has the actual American Thoracic Society guideline (not found in Harrison's). The abdominal pain chapter provides a new evidence-based approach to this difficult problem: it contains tables listing the likelihood ratio of each investigations for each diagnosis; and it questioned the importance WBC, bowel sound, abodminal X-ray, and (gasp!) rectal exam. The chapter on diarrhea discusses the origin of the myth that anti-motility agent and antibiotics are detrimental, but also provides new evidence for their safety in infectious diarrhea. The pneumonia chapter discusses the Fine's mortality risk scores for the decision of hospitilization (not seen in Harrison's either). The chapter in advanced resucitation includes a discussion of amiodarone and vasopressin in cardiac arrest. The unstable angina chapter contains the NHLBI risk classification. TIMI 14 and SPEED are discussed in the MI chapter. The list goes on and on.

In short, this book is a truly comprehensive review AND update of this exciting specialty. Even the seasoned ER physician will learn something new in this book.

The Definitive Emergency Medicine Text
As an Emergency medicine resident, the book is the centerpiece of my library. The new edition differs from the previous in the addition of two color text. Using two colors enables them to make the tables more readable. The text is longer than the previous edition. Each chapter is divided up into a short intro/description of normal, followed by etiology, pathophysiology, clinical features, treatment, then special considerations. The writing, as in the previous editions is concise and to the point. This text is priceless because it takes all the concepts and presents them in a clinically relevant way. This is very useful as a general review text, as well as a hands on while working text. Should be in all ED's as well as in all personal libraries of physicians who see patients in the emergency setting.