Preface

Since the publication of the first edition of this book, we have been heartened by the many positive comments and emails from readers and have been very grateful for the suggestions for improvements and modifications. We have tried to incorporate as many of these as possible.

We have tried hard to update the text to reflect modern practice and to make changes which, only with the 20–20 vision of hindsight, could we see were needed.

We have tried to keep an eye on OSCE examinations and the reader will find new ‘skills stations’ throughout the book to add to the existing examination frameworks.

Several chapters, including respiratory, paediatrics, skin, and locomotor have been rewritten from scratch.

We have incorporated new chapters on the eyes, the obstetric assessment.

The ‘important presentations’ section of each systems chapter has been greatly expanded and referenced to our sister publications the Oxford Handbooks Clinical Tutor Study Cards.

The practical procedures chapter has been significantly expanded and updated.

The photographs throughout the book have been updated to reflect modern healthcare dress codes.

There is a brand new chapter on ‘other investigations’ so that the reader can understand what is involved in common tests and how to prepare patients for them.

Finally, the chapter order has been changed to highlight the importance of the ‘core’ system examinations of the cardiovascular, respiratory, abdominal, and nervous systems.

As always, we welcome any comments and suggestions for improvement from our reader—this book, after all, is for you.

James D Thomas

Tanya M Monaghan

2013