To the 1st Edition
It is with the greatest enthusiasm that I introduce Pocket Medicine. In an era of information glut, it will logically be asked, “Why another manual for medical house officers?” Yet, despite enormous information readily available in any number of textbooks, or at the push of a key on a computer, it is often that the harried house officer is less helped by the description of differential diagnosis and therapies than one would wish.
Pocket Medicine is the joint venture between house staff and faculty expert in a number of medical specialties. This collaboration is designed to provide a rapid but thoughtful initial approach to medical problems seen by house officers with great frequency. Questions that frequently come from faculty to the house staff on rounds, many hours after the initial interaction between patient and doctor, have been anticipated, and important pathways for arriving at diagnoses and initiating therapies are presented. This approach will facilitate the evidence-based medicine discussion that will follow the workup of the patient. This well-conceived handbook should enhance the ability of every medical house officer to properly evaluate a patient in a timely fashion and to be stimulated to think of the evidence supporting the diagnosis and the likely outcome of therapeutic intervention. Pocket Medicine will prove to be a worthy addition to medical education and to the care of our patients.
DENNIS A. AUSIELLO, MD
Physician-in-Chief, Massachusetts General Hospital
Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine, Harvard Medical School