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The Literature of Medicine |1 September 1995

Reviews and Notes: General Practice

John F. Burnum, MD

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Author, Article, and Disclosure Information
Copyright ©2004 by the American College of Physicians
2004
  • Tuscaloosa, AL 35401.
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John Murtagh. 1107 pages. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1994. $79.00. ISBN 452807-6. Order phone 800-262-4729.
Although we general internists have begun to do many things formerly associated with general practice, our cachet continues to be our commitment to and pleasure in understanding the mechanisms of disease as we care for our patients. Know theory, and practice will follow. How, then, shall I respond to Murtagh's General Practice, a distillate of the pragmatic aspects of office patient care?
The book begins by aptly characterizing the physician as a trusted friend of the patient, and it closes with a wrap-up of the treatment of everyday office problems, from ingrown toenails and hangover to halitosis and teeth grinding. The conventional diseases are clustered together under leading common symptoms; thus, lung disorders and heart failure appear under the heading dyspnea. The author then proceeds to diagnosis and treatment by listing and discussing the possible causes of dyspnea, roughly according to their frequency of occurrence (obesity is near the top) and providing checklists of relevant serious disorders not to be missed (neuromuscular diseases, for example), pitfalls in diagnosis (such as pulmonary emboli), and masquerades (such as salicylate overdose). Murtagh always—wisely—closes by asking, Is the patient trying to tell me something?
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Burnum JF. Reviews and Notes: General Practice. Ann Intern Med. ;123:396. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-123-5-199509010-00031

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Published: Ann Intern Med. 1995;123(5):396.

DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-123-5-199509010-00031

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Print ISSN: 0003-4819 | Online ISSN: 1539-3704

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