Good reference book

[WolfmanHarris]

So for quite awhile I've been listening to the podcast for the Merck Manual of Patient Symptoms and have enjoyed them quite a bit. So today I went out and picked up the book and have been flipping through it for the last little bit. While not designed for Paramedics, it's an excellent resource that I would highly recommend for a few reasons:

- Organized by symptoms; this is how our patients present to us and without the benefit of a final diagnosis this is often as far as we get. By looking up the symptoms you get a broad overview of possible diagnosis to consider beyond the top five approach of most Paramedic texts.

- Recommendations for physical assessment and history taking

- Overview of patho and etiologies

- Information on DI and lab tests; allows the medic to gain further information on what will be done in hospital

- Red Flags; maybe the call wasn't BS afterall eh?

The book is small enough to toss in your gear bag for referencing at work. At less then $30.00 it's well worth it. (and well you're at it, the podcasts for it and "ICU rounds" make good listening during the commute.)

Cheers,

- Matt

[medic82942003]

During my years in the military- A doctor once told me Why do you think we have all those books

in our offices. Its because we go back and look things up. I agree- also if you plan on being a remote medic. I used to read it all the time. Be safe. Cheers.

[FireMedic65]

I have seen docs look up information all the time. Even once seen the doc look up how to do/use something on youtube.