Physicians Produce New Medical Guide

Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc., well known for its high-quality illustrated reference books, and the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (the nation’s largest medical specialty organization with over 115,000 physicians) have teamed up to produce the American College of Physicians Complete Home Medical Guide ($40).

This comprehensively illustrated, innovative, and authoritative guide to family health and medicine is dedicated to the idea that knowledge is essential to maintaining good health. Using clearly written text and more than 2,000 full-color images, the 1,104-page book explains how the body works, provides tools for interpreting symptoms, describes how and why diseases occur, and outlines the details of modern diagnostic tests and treatments. These features enable readers to know what to expect if disease develops, to ask the right questions, and to participate in the management of their own health problems.

To help readers actively engage in managing their health, the ACP Complete Home Medical Guide gives a selection of online medical sites, chosen to provide reliable information about specific health issues. The book also includes a free CD-ROM, The Ultimate Human Body 2.0

An important theme of the Complete Home Medical Guide is the effect of genetic makeup and lifestyle on health throughout life. The book explains how appropriate screening for disease and informed choices about aspects of lifestyle, such as diet and exercise, can modify the effects of genetic factors to optimize good health.

The book was edited by more than 70 medical authorities and specialists who help make up the ACP-ASIM. It includes:

Assessing Your Symptoms: Seventy question-and-answer symptom charts cover the common symptoms of a particular medical condition, explore possible causes, and suggest appropriate courses of action to take. The charts are grouped in four color-coded sections, with applications for men, women, and children. Each chart contains a series of questions. The answers lead from a starting point to a finishing point that advises on the appropriate course of action to take.

Taking Control of Your Health: This section helps readers assess their current and potential health status by looking at aspects of genetic inheritance and lifestyle. The section also examines the influence of aging and environment on health. In addition, it provides guidance on following a healthy lifestyle and other preventive health-care measures, such as lifelong screening programs to give early warning of disease.

Looking for Disease: This section helps patients become better informed about what to expect when undergoing medical tests. By combining clear illustrations and detailed photography, it shows the principles of commonly used screening and diagnostic tests and investigations, including laboratory tests and techniques for looking inside the human body, such as MRI scanning.

Your Body and Disease: This section examines more than 750 disorders ranging from minor conditions, such as warts, to more serious diseases, such as lung cancer. There are 21 sub-sections, arranged by body system, as well as special sub-sections on genetic disorders, cancer, infections and infestations, serious injuries, disorders during pregnancy and childbirth, and disorders in infants and children.

Treating Diseases: This part of the book gives comprehensive coverage of drug treatment, surgery, physical and psychological therapies, and rehabilitation. The section also provides information about terminal illness and includes 33 pages of general first aid techniques.

Drug Glossary, Online Sites and Index: The final section of the book provides additional information about drugs, a list of health-related organizations, and online sites that provide information about medical conditions.

While this book doesn’t include many rare medical conditions (that would require several volumes), it is an excellent resource for most of the medical situations that readers will encounter. The section on coronary angioplasty, for example, includes diagrams that show the location in the body, how a catheter with a deflated balloon attached is threaded into an artery and inflated to compress the deposits and widen the narrowed area of the artery.  Before and after photos show the effect of treatment.

Particularly helpful is the section on diagnostic and screening procedures – why they are done, how they are performed, and what the results mean. Readers who are facing surgery will be interested in the section which explains all of the equipment and functions of the staff typically seen in an operating room, types of surgery and anesthetic, what happens during surgery, and what are the risks.

The editor-in-chief for this book was David R. Goldmann, MD, senior deputy editor of the Annuals of Internal Medicine, editor-in-chief of integrated clinical information resources of the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, and associate professor of medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. David A. Horowicz, MD, was the associate editor. Dr Horowicz is the associate director of program development in the Department of Health and Disease Management at the University of Pennsylvania Health System and associate professor of medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.