BL The companion volume to the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine BL Covers all the major clinical specialties BL Pocket guide to diagnosis, investigations, and treatment BL Provides enough background information to give a useful understanding of the subject BL Includes social and psychological dimensions of care BL Alternate pages left blank for personal notes BL Cross referenced to the Oxford Textbook of Medicine 2/e This book, combined with the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine, covers the entire field of medicine. It has been written primarily for those taking up their first responsibilities in the major specialties of clinical medicine, whether as clinical students, junior doctors, or trainee general practitioners. The junior doctor is expected, rather unreasonably, to be able to finish one specialty (e.g. psychiatry) one day and be ready to undertake the full responsibilities of a new specialty (e.g. paediatrics) without so much as an hour to adjust to the new work. So he/she has to learn on the job. Such a doctor needs a friend in the pocket to prompt him/her to ask all the right questions, to advise on which preliminary diagnosis to make, which investigations to request, and how to institute the correct treatment before experienced (and sometimes critical) help arrives in the form of a ward round. The book is not, however, just a compendium of causes and recipes for treatments. It also provides sufficient information to give the student who has never met a given topic before, a useful understanding of the subject. Examples of topics covered: How to examine the contents of the mind How to examine the contents of the pregnant uterus How to resuscitate an asphyxiated neonate How to manage discharge from psychiatric clinics How to manage discharge from the ear or from the vagina How to prevent all the preventable diseases, and how to tackle the barriers to prevention How to look after your own mental health How to analyse doctors' consultations How to approach someone with a red eye What are sex therapy, play therapy, and brief therapy? how to cope with spinal injury First-degree students of clinical medicine; junior doctors; trainee general practitioners.