Illustrated Textbook of Pediatrics

Colorful, friendly and easy to read, this clinical softback textbook for pediatrics is a good reference for medical students starting their pediatrics rotation. The textbook is broken into twenty-five chapters starting with the medical history and physical examination of a child, to bio-psycho-social factors that affect a child's development, and finally to the diseases of specific organ systems. There is also a chapter addressing children with special needs. The authors do a thorough job in presenting the various emotional and psychological issues that are unique to the care and examination of pediatric patients. They provide a balanced view on how to approach children of various ages, taking into account their mental capacity, the role of the parents and the possible emotionally charged atmosphere that surrounds a sick child. What makes this textbook easy to read for an often tired and busy medical student is the number of illustrations and figures that succinctly summarize the major points of the text. Every page is filled with pictures showing clinical manifestations or findings of diseases as well as cartoons of pathological mechanisms. The illustrations are easy to follow and well-correlated with the text. Large flow charts on management procedures help students who are just learning how to take care of patients. The authors also provide summary figures that list typical differential diagnoses for common complaints such as abdominal pain. This textbook, however, cannot stand on its own without additional references. The authors often assume that the reader is already familiar with the pathology and etiology of many of the diseases. This information is often glossed over, while the management of these diseases is given more explanation. This can be frustrating for the medical student who only vaguely remembers the mechanisms behind these diseases. Thus, this textbook is recommended to be used in conjunction with another general text that goes deeper into such details. It should also be pointed out that this book was written more for students in the English medical system; that is, the undergraduates going into medicine, as well as the postgraduates approaching the examinations for the Diploma of Child Health and for membership of the Royal College of Physicians. The authors realize that there may be inherent differences in practice abroad and have tried to keep to the basic principles of management. For the same reason, they also do not delve deeply into the legal aspects of child health. For a medical student outside England, this approach would probably not affect the usefulness of the text. One just has to realize that there will be no specific details about the practices or the prevalence and incidences of diseases in North America. Overall, Lissauer's and Clayden's Illustrated Textbook ofPediatrics is an easy-to-use reference for medical students on their pediatrics clerkship. The illustrations and the colorful diagrams help make information access easier, and the text itself is clear and concisely written. Grace Shih Medical Student Yale University School of Medicine