Current Issues In General Internal Medicine

Current Issues in General Internal Medicine

Read with two objectives: first, to acquaint yourself with the current knowledge of a subject and the steps by which it has been reached; and secondly, and more important, read to understand and analyze your cases. William Osler, The Student Life What follows is a collection of cases-or more aptly, the stories of our patients and friends who have been seen at The Ohio State University Hospitals where our faculty have provided their care and about whom this volume is written. Today many fear that our patients are being moved from center stage while we are being distracted by the technology of medicine. This volume was written with patients in mind. The idea is that the most intriguing questions and the most rewarding answers begin and end at the bedside. This is a story of our patients, told by expert clinicians and spiced with commentary along the way. This volume in no way at tempts to be comprehensive. Instead, it is like the practice of medicine, scattered, somewhat disjointed, while at the same time intensely personal and focused upon whatever problem the patient brings to us. The discussions are not so much about disease entities as they are about patients with problem". The two are uniquely dif ferent. For instance, when the physician suspects hepatitis, not every imaginable cause can be actively investigated. Instead, tests and procedures are discriminate ly chosen, a part of medicine that is still more art than science.

The Institute of Medicine study Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001) recommended that an interdisciplinary summit be held to further reform of health professions education in order to enhance quality and patient safety. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality is the follow up to that summit, held in June 2002, where 150 participants across disciplines and occupations developed ideas about how to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education. These core competencies include patient-centered care, interdisciplinary teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This book recommends a mix of approaches to health education improvement, including those related to oversight processes, the training environment, research, public reporting, and leadership. Educators, administrators, and health professionals can use this book to help achieve an approach to education that better prepares clinicians to meet both the needs of patients and the requirements of a changing health care system.

Read with two objectives: first, to acquaint yourself with the current knowledge of a subject and the steps by which it has been reached; and secondly, and more important, read to understand and analyze your cases. William Osler, The Student Life What follows is a collection of cases-or more aptly, the stories of our patients and friends who have been seen at The Ohio State University Hospitals where our faculty have provided their care and about whom this volume is written. Today many fear that our patients are being moved from center stage while we are being distracted by the technology of medicine. This volume was written with patients in mind. The idea is that the most intriguing questions and the most rewarding answers begin and end at the bedside. This is a story of our patients, told by expert clinicians and spiced with commentary along the way. This volume in no way at tempts to be comprehensive. Instead, it is like the practice of medicine, scattered, somewhat disjointed, while at the same time intensely personal and focused upon whatever problem the patient brings to us. The discussions are not so much about disease entities as they are about patients with problem". The two are uniquely dif ferent. For instance, when the physician suspects hepatitis, not every imaginable cause can be actively investigated. Instead, tests and procedures are discriminate ly chosen, a part of medicine that is still more art than science.

The more we know about medicine, the more we realize that many health questions have no one true answer. Realizing this, and thinking carefully about how medicine asks patients to treat their conditions, leads us to some questions. How reliable are the guidelines that might form the basis of doctors’ advice? Is it wrong, after all, to base an approach to medicine on patients’ preferences? And, given that there is often a distance between the treatment a doctor advises and what a patient would like to do, how do we bridge the gap—especially in a health culture of inequality, technical proficiency, and increasing costs? In practical, engaging, narrative-driven chapters about common health conditions that millions of Americans are familiar with—depression and high blood pressure, arthritis and diabetes—Dr. Zackary Berger of Johns Hopkins demystifies the often bewildering disconnect between patients and doctors and asks us all to think more clearly about how best to protect and cure the human body.

50 Studies Every Internist Should Know presents key studies that shape today's practice of internal medicine. Selected using a rigorous methodology, the studies cover topics including: preventative medicine, endocrinology, hematology and oncology, musculoskeletal diseases, nephrology, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, cardiology, pulmonology, geriatrics and palliative care, and mental health. For each study, a concise summary is presented with an emphasis on the results and limitations of the study, and its implications for practice. An illustrative clinical case concludes each review, followed by brief information on other relevant studies. This book is a must-read for health care professionals and anyone who wants to learn more about the data behind clinical practice.

This book provides a roadmap for frontline clinician-educators who are grappling with how best to teach learners in the fast paced learning environment of clinical medicine where the hidden curriculum still remains. We provide insight into how to approach these topics with learners, and pose unanswered questions for future scholarly work.

Feedback from users suggest this resource book is more comprehensive and more practical than many others in the market. One of its strengths is that it was written by trainees in internal medicine who understand the need for rapid access to accurate and concise clinical information, with a practical approach to clinical problem solving.