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From The CriticsReviewer: David J. Dries, MD (University of Minnesota Medical School)
Description: This is a collection of chapters specific to pulmonary medicine and intensive care from Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th edition, Fauci et al. (McGraw-Hill, 2008), one of the standards in medical education.
Purpose: The 45 chapters from the main textbook that focus on pulmonary and critical care medicine are gathered and indexed.
Audience: Medical students and junior residents working on a pulmonary service or a medical intensive care unit are the intended audience.
Features: The majority of chapters focus on pulmonary disease, with an initial group of presentations on the evaluation and management of patients presenting with common symptoms such as dyspnea, cough, cyanosis or hemoptysis. Subsequent chapters specifically deal with respiratory problems such as sleep apnea, interstitial lung disease, cystic fibrosis, and COPD. A third set of chapters describe, in very general terms, an approach to critically ill patients with an emphasis on cardiopulmonary support. Final chapters describe other organ system dysfunctions in the critical care setting. Chapters are clearly written with color illustrations. Radiographs reproduce with acceptable quality. Color line drawings are excellent teaching tools and reproduce well. Chapters have brief reference lists dating to within two to three years of publication, although many of these references are secondary sources. A detailed subject index includes separate citations for figures and tables.
Assessment: This is a useful introduction to the topic, but it is written for learners rather than practitioners. Despite the brevity of chapters, repetition is frequent. Details in some of the chapters are dated. Reference lists could provide useful supplemental data, but they are limited in comparison to major textbooks.