Clinician's Pocket Reference, 11th Edition

This is an excellent resource, so much so that after my dogs ate my first copy I immediately ordered my second. In my opinion it is well written, well organized, and the perfect size to carry around with you. As it says on the cover it is the manual of manuals. Easy to read charts, excellent pictures it covers a little bit of everything from bedside procedures to commonly used medications. I highly recommend to anyone in the medical field from paramedics on.

I've recently moved from being an ER PA to a Hospitalist PA and I couldn't do my job everyday without this gem. As a PA I didn't get as much inpatient experience as my Physician counterparts so this thing has saved my but numerous times as a quick reference for lab interpretations, documentation, fluid management, and everything else that I never had to think about when I was in the ER. As mentioned in another review, if you are not doing inpatient work then you should skip this book. I would never use it if I was doing FP work because many of the chapters would not apply. Lucky for me though, this thing is indispensable.

I have had this book in my library since the first edition and I buy the updates as soon as they are available. I recommend it to my (advanced practice nursing) students as a concise tool to keep up with the latest in procedures, medications, tests and imaging studies while maintaining and reviewing all the basic principles. And you can't beat the "Scut Monkey" name!! Ann Hirschman FNP

Third year can be really hard and I didn't realize that students are expected to sort of figure things out for themselves. That can be hard if you aren't even sure what you don't know. I am a smart person, but I was at a loss for some really basic things. It looked bad. Then! I found this book and let me tell you I felt like I had found the key to the magic garden. Or more acurately, that I had found a buoy on a dark and stormy night. I honestly had thought I was going to drown. I learned my notes/h & p's, differential diagnoses, medications, ekg's, chest x-rays, ICU vent settings and devices, surgical knots, fluids and electrolytes, laboratory diagnosis, micro - ok, you get the picture. It completely changed how I learned and did things. I carried it everywhere, and proudly too. A good book is like your best friend, solid, reliable and full of good advice. This book is the best, and I absolutely love it. I expect to carry it with me for the next few years.

I really have found this book useful, but it will weigh you down and hurt your aerodynamics. I liked the sections on labs and differentials as a 3rd year, and found the procedure walkthroughs to be useful as a 4th year. For residency I plan to go completely with the PDA.