Oxford Handbook of Clinical and Laboratory Investigations
Authors: Drew Provan and Andrew Krentz
Nearly twenty-three years ago as a final year student, I did a locum for one of the surgical housemen who was on annual leave. The boss had a tendency to ask for the latest haemoglobin and U&Es on his grand rounds and the houseman had to come up with the answers. Five minutes prior to the round, I realised that I had mislaid my notebook where this vital information was stored. I was treated to some withering looks from the ward sister and in the doctors’ mess later that night, I asked my opposite number how he successfully managed to seemingly memorise all the results. He looked at me incredulously. "I don’t", he said conspiratorially, "I make them up, the boss never checks". All of which is somewhat irrelevant to this book review but an entertaining tale nevertheless.
The hospital doctor and these days the GP, both order increasing numbers of tests. When the results are normal everyone’s happy. But how do you manage the result that is outside the normal range? The first response is often to repeat the test in the hope that somehow it will be normal and sometimes it is. But if the abnormality persists, you could do a lot worse than consult this brand new text which was published in December last year.
This book not only tells you which investigations to order in numerous clinical situations but how to interpret the results, which is all-important. It is written by clinicians, is wonderfully pragmatic and the last word on clinical investigation. Like the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine, it is succinct and precise and would slip into your white coat or bag with ease. The first part of the book is devoted to the many signs and symptoms presented by patients and details which investigation(s) might be appropriate under the circumstances. The second part deals with the tests themselves and forms the bulk of the book. The short introduction "Approach To Investigation", should be shown to every houseman at the start of the job.
General Practitioners are not specifically mentioned as intended readership but I can’t imagine why, as I am confident they would find the book useful. Even if they are not directly involved in some of the more esoteric hospital based investigations, the book gives them the confidence and knowledge to explain them to worried patients.
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press
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| ISBN 0-19-263283-3
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| Reviewer: | Dr Jeremy M Sager
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