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Paediatric Decision-Making Strategies
Seminars in Fetal & Neonatal Medicine 20 (2015) 206
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Seminars in Fetal & Neonatal Medicine journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/siny
Book review Paediatric Decision-Making Strategies, Albert J. Pomeranz, Svapna Sabis, Sharon L. Busey, Robert M. Kleigman, Second Edition. Elsevier Saunders (2015). £25.19, 354 pp. Paediatric Decision-Making Strategies is the second edition of a textbook which aims to ‘assist the student, house officer and clinician in the evaluation of common paediatric signs and symptoms and abnormal laboratory findings.’ At first glance this is an easy to navigate book with a clear contents page and extensive index. There is a chapter for each major system and these are subdivided into an extensive list of individual signs and symptoms. Looking up a sign or disease process in the index directs you to each of the subsections that refer to it, enabling you to focus your search further. Each presentation is allocated an algorithm that demonstrates a methodical approach to the problem. The reader is guided through the points in the history, signs on examination and investigations that may lead to a diagnosis. Many of the subsections of each algorithm direct you to a paragraph of text with further information on that particular symptom, investigation or diagnosis. The majority of the algorithms are easy to follow, giving the reader clear signposts and culminating in a concise list of differentials. However in a few instances the algorithms become convoluted and some require two non-consecutive pages to fully illustrate the presentation. The text that the algorithms make reference to is laid out in dense paragraphs of small, unvarying font which are a little wearying to read. Each algorithm is helpfully linked to a chapter in Nelson’s Textbook of Paediatrics, (19th edition) and Nelson’s Essentials (6th edition), and also has its own bibliography making it simple for the reader to seek further information. There is an online version of the book, which, like the hard copy, is simple to navigate. A search box guides you to a list of chapters
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.siny.2015.05.005 1744-165X
with your searched word highlighted. The algorithms in the online version appear below the explanatory text and so looking between the two requires some scrolling up and down. There are no figures or images within the book or the online version, and aside from breaking up the text, these would have been a useful learning resource, particularly for common signs such as rashes. As the title suggests, this is a paediatric textbook and hence is more relevant for paediatricians than neonatologists, but its breadth ensures that it includes plenty of presentations occurring in neonates as well as children. The book is aimed at students and junior doctors, and I feel that it is successful in demonstrating a methodical approach to history taking, examination and investigation for a wide range of presentations. It is not a textbook I would recommend for postgraduate examinations as it does not have sufficient depth of information, however it does not claim this, hence the clear signposting to Nelson’s. I would recommend it for students because it demonstrates a way of thinking about medicine that is useful in paediatrics and in all other specialties. I would also recommend it to junior doctors working in an assessment unit or emergency department; a quick glance at an algorithm before seeing a patient is much faster than leafing through pages of text. K.E. Lawrence Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds LS1 3EX, UK E-mail address: [email protected].
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Seminars in Fetal & Neonatal Medicine journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/siny
Book review Paediatric Decision-Making Strategies, Albert J. Pomeranz, Svapna Sabis, Sharon L. Busey, Robert M. Kleigman, Second Edition. Elsevier Saunders (2015). £25.19, 354 pp. Paediatric Decision-Making Strategies is the second edition of a textbook which aims to ‘assist the student, house officer and clinician in the evaluation of common paediatric signs and symptoms and abnormal laboratory findings.’ At first glance this is an easy to navigate book with a clear contents page and extensive index. There is a chapter for each major system and these are subdivided into an extensive list of individual signs and symptoms. Looking up a sign or disease process in the index directs you to each of the subsections that refer to it, enabling you to focus your search further. Each presentation is allocated an algorithm that demonstrates a methodical approach to the problem. The reader is guided through the points in the history, signs on examination and investigations that may lead to a diagnosis. Many of the subsections of each algorithm direct you to a paragraph of text with further information on that particular symptom, investigation or diagnosis. The majority of the algorithms are easy to follow, giving the reader clear signposts and culminating in a concise list of differentials. However in a few instances the algorithms become convoluted and some require two non-consecutive pages to fully illustrate the presentation. The text that the algorithms make reference to is laid out in dense paragraphs of small, unvarying font which are a little wearying to read. Each algorithm is helpfully linked to a chapter in Nelson’s Textbook of Paediatrics, (19th edition) and Nelson’s Essentials (6th edition), and also has its own bibliography making it simple for the reader to seek further information. There is an online version of the book, which, like the hard copy, is simple to navigate. A search box guides you to a list of chapters
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.siny.2015.05.005 1744-165X
with your searched word highlighted. The algorithms in the online version appear below the explanatory text and so looking between the two requires some scrolling up and down. There are no figures or images within the book or the online version, and aside from breaking up the text, these would have been a useful learning resource, particularly for common signs such as rashes. As the title suggests, this is a paediatric textbook and hence is more relevant for paediatricians than neonatologists, but its breadth ensures that it includes plenty of presentations occurring in neonates as well as children. The book is aimed at students and junior doctors, and I feel that it is successful in demonstrating a methodical approach to history taking, examination and investigation for a wide range of presentations. It is not a textbook I would recommend for postgraduate examinations as it does not have sufficient depth of information, however it does not claim this, hence the clear signposting to Nelson’s. I would recommend it for students because it demonstrates a way of thinking about medicine that is useful in paediatrics and in all other specialties. I would also recommend it to junior doctors working in an assessment unit or emergency department; a quick glance at an algorithm before seeing a patient is much faster than leafing through pages of text. K.E. Lawrence Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds LS1 3EX, UK E-mail address: [email protected].