Clinical Skills in Medicine

This textbook has been written expressly for students receiving their clinical training in medicine, and explains methods of examination and the difficulties associated with them. It emphasizes that the practical aim of examination in an acute case is to establish a provisional diagnosis on which to base immediate treatment, but without undue disturbance of the patient. The book examines ways of interpreting certain symptoms and signs in terms of physiology and anatomy, and stresses that a true synthesis of these methods can only be achieved by practice and careful study at the bedside. Modifications and departures from common practice have been incorporated to encourage student readers to work out their own methods on the basis of what their own individual experience teaches.