Skills in Rheumatology E-Book

Book excerpt: This book is a quick aid for any clinician dealing with patients with rheumatic diseases. The major gap that we tried to fill by writing this book is the clinical relevance to practice! It is hardly ever seen that a resident in rheumatology is carrying any book about rheumatology in his/her rotation! Obviously, because there are no good books with relevance to the daily practice a resident is facing! Now, here are the specific objectives of the book. The chapters might be fulfilling more than one of these general objectives: - To construct a clinical approach to patients with arthritis. - To interpret laboratory findings in patients with rheumatic diseases. - To prescribe and monitor drugs used to treat patients with rheumatic diseases. - To construct a diagnostic approach to common medical problems in patients with rheumatic diseases. - To provide an update in the classification and management of common rheumatic diseases based on international societies. The features and content in the book that will be most valuable: - The first part which represent the basics in rheumatology practice. There will be a comprehensive chapter about how to approach history taking from patients presenting with a rheumatological problem. There will be also a simplified approach to MSK examination of common joints from a rheumatological perspective with the intention to diagnose arthritis and not to be mixed with sports injuries or other soft tissue problems. In the last section of the book, we will bring the latest classification criteria and the latest recommendation for management guidelines (they are so many!) in one section! We are not considering our book as a reference in how to manage patients with RA or SLE by prescribing appropriate drugs! We are going only to focus on the approach to the patients and providing the latest guidelines for management available for the reader of the book.