Table of Contents

Part 1 The basis of general practice

1 The nature and content of general practice

2 The family

3 Consulting skills

4 Communication skills

5 Counselling skills

6 Difficult, demanding and angry patients

7 Health promotion and patient education

8 The elderly patient

9 Prevention in general practice

10 Nutrition in health and illness

11 Palliative care

12 Pain and its management

13 Research and evidence-based medicine

14 Travel medicine

15 Tropical medicine and the returned traveller

16 Laboratory investigations

17 Inspection as a clinical skill

18 A safe diagnostic strategy

19 Genetic conditions

Part 2 Diagnostic perspective in general practice

20 Depression

21 Diabetes mellitus: diagnosis

22 Drug problems

23 Anaemia

24 Thyroid and other endocrine disorders

25 Spinal dysfunction

26 Urinary tract infection

27 Malignant disease

28 HIV/AIDS—could it be HIV?

29 Baffling viral and protozoal infections

30 Baffling bacterial infections

31 Infections of the central nervous system

32 Chronic kidney failure

33 Connective tissue disease and the vasculitides

34 Neurological dilemmas

Part 3 Problem solving in general practice

35 Abdominal pain

36 Arthritis

37 Anorectal disorders

38 Thoracic back pain

39 Low back pain

40 Bruising and bleeding

41 Chest pain

42 Constipation

43 Cough

44 Deafness and hearing loss

45 Diarrhoea

46 The disturbed patient

47 Dizziness/vertigo

48 Dyspepsia (indigestion)

49 Dysphagia

50 Dyspnoea

51 The painful ear

52 The red and tender eye

53 Pain in the face

54 Fever and chills

55 Faints, fits and funny turns

56 Haematemesis and melaena

57 Headache

58 Hoarseness

59 Jaundice

60 Nasal disorders

61 Nausea and vomiting

62 Neck lumps

63 Neck pain

64 Shoulder pain

65 Pain in the arm and hand

66 Hip, buttock and groin pain

67 Pain in the leg

68 The painful knee

69 Pain in the foot and ankle

70 Walking difficulty and leg swelling

71 Palpitations

72 Sleep disorders

73 Sore mouth and tongue

74 Sore throat

75 Tiredness/fatigue

76 The unconscious patient

77 Urinary disorders

78 Visual failure

79 Weight gain

80 Weight loss

Part 4 Child and adolescent health

81 An approach to the child

82 Specific problems of children

83 Surgical problems in children

84 Common childhood infectious diseases (including skin eruptions)

85 Behaviour disorders in children

86 Child abuse

87 Emergencies in children

88 Adolescent health

Part 5 Womens health

89 Cervical cancer and Pap smears

90 Family planning

91 Breast pain (mastalgia)

92 Lumps in the breast

93 Abnormal uterine bleeding

94 Lower abdominal and pelvic pain in women

95 Premenstrual syndrome

96 The menopause

97 Osteoporosis

98 Vaginal discharge

99 Vulvar disorders

100 Domestic violence and sexual assault

101 Basic antenatal care

102 Infections in pregnancy

103 High-risk pregnancy

104 Postnatal care

Part 6 Men’s health

105 Mens health: an overview

106 Scrotal pain

107 Inguinoscrotal lumps

108 Disorders of the penis

109 Disorders of the prostate

Part 7 Sexually related problems

110 The subfertile couple

111 Sexual health

112 Sexually transmitted infections

Part 8 Problems of the skin

113 A diagnostic and management approach to skin problems

114 Pruritus

115 Common skin problems

116 Acute skin eruptions

117 Skin ulcers

118 Common lumps and bumps

119 Pigmented skin lesions

120 Hair disorders

121 Nail disorders

Part 9 Chronic disorders: continuing management

122 Alcohol problems

123 Allergic disorders including hay fever

124 Anxiety disorders

125 Asthma

126 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

127 Epilepsy

128 Hypertension

129 Dyslipidaemia

130 Diabetes mellitus: management

131 Chronic heart failure

Part 10 Accident and emergency medicine

132 Emergency care

133 The doctors bag and other emergency equipment

134 Stroke and transient ischaemic attacks

135 Thrombosis and thromboembolism

136 Common skin wounds and foreign bodies

137 Common fractures and dislocations

138 Common sporting injuries

Part 11 Health of specific groups

139 The health of Indigenous peoples

140 Refugee health

141 Catchy metaphors, similes and colloquial expressions in medicine

Appendix

Index

About the Author

About the Authors

The renowned John Murtagh is Emeritus Professor in General Practice at Monash University; Professorial Fellow of General Practice at the University of Melbourne; Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Notre Dame and Guest Professor at Peking University Health Science Centre, Beijing.

This new edition benefits from the contributions of Dr Jill Rosenblatt as a second medical author and editor. Dr Rosenblatt is a General Practitioner and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Primary Health Care at Monash University whose wealth of rural and urban experience adds a new level of authority to this respected work.