• The first section Principles of clinical assessment examines different approaches to diagnosis, reviews the fundamental elements necessary for accurate patient assessment, provides a helpful template for a ‘routine workup’ and describes how to adapt the assessment to fit the clinical context.

• The second core section of the book Assessment of common presenting problems contains a series of ‘diagnostic guides’ that lead the reader, step-by-step through the major presenting problems in medicine and surgery, explaining how to recognise red flag features, eliminate life-threatening conditons and generate a logical differential diagnosis.

This book has been praised as an invaluable resource for senior medical students and junior doctors as they attempt to make the difficult transition from mastering basic clinical skills to assessing patients in the real world of clinical medicine.

• A unique book allowing a reader to apply the skills of clinical examination in the formulation of a differential diagnosis and placing a patient’s symptoms in context.
• Takes a problem-based approach to diagnostic reasoning, reflecting both modern medical and current educational practices.
• Builds on the clinical skills outlined in the companion Macleod’s Clinical Examination textbook.

For this Second Edition the text has been expanded with five new topics covering nausea and vomiting; vaginal bleeding; red eye; urinary incontinence; and weight loss.