Oxford University Press

Epilepsy is a common condition, and approximately 3% of the general population will experience a seizure at some point in their lives. The average GP in the UK will have responsibility for about 10 patients with active epilepsy, and about 10-20% of all neurological and paediatric consultations are concerned with epilepsy. Part of the Oxford Neurology Library, this pocketbook is intended to serve as a practical guide for the busy clinician and to summarise, in a clear and concise manner, the clinical presentations, differential diagnosis and investigations and management of this condition, in children and adults. The treatment of epilepsy has been much improved in recent years by the introduction of many new and effective antiepileptic drugs - and this book places strong emphasis on the principles and practice of antiepileptic drug treatment. This book will serve as a useful quick reference to all clinicians who treat patients with epilepsy.

Restless legs syndrome (RLS), also known as Ekbom syndrome, is a common movement disorder with sensorimotor symptoms occurring during sleep and quiet wakefulness. Yoakum described RLS as the "the most common disorder you've never heard of" and this may, unfortunately, be an appropriate description of RLS. The term "restless legs syndrome was first introduced by Karl-Axel Ekbom, a Swedish neurologist and surgeon in 1945. RLS can present in the primary care and secondary care, across a range of specialities such as psychiatry, rheumatology and sleep medicine, and in the UK, the condition remains under-recognised and often regarded as a neurosis in-spite of evidence that RLS adversely affects quality of life. Inappropriate clinical history taking leads to mis-diagnosis and under diagnosis and a sense tat the condition may be a "manufactured" one. Although RLS is effectively treatable and two drugs are now specifically licensed for RLS in the UK, the condition is generally poorly treated and investigated and often prescribed inappropriate drugs. Patients' descriptions of RLS are wide and varied including "Elvis legs" and an "electric current" running through their legs Because of such a broad, unusual spectrum of reported sensations RLS is frequently misunderstood, and misdiagnosed and even classified as a psychogenic disorder. Patient group surveys in the UK also suggest a consistent delay in diagnosis, delay in referrals and patients often being told "to put up with the symptoms". Part of the Oxford Neurology Library, this pocketbook will highlight the importance of RLS, the ease with RLS can be diagnosed, the problems of misdiagnosis, current thoughts on pathogenesis and the up-to-date treatment. The book will serve as an invaluable quick reference for neurologists, trainees, specialist nurses and general practitioners.

Emergency nursing requires rapid assessment and decision-making. Often you are required to make sense of considerable amounts of information and act on it. The Oxford Handbook of Emergency Nursing provides an essential resource when time is short and the need for practical clinical guidance is paramount. This handbook provides clear, focussed information that will aid all areas of patient assessment and management in emergency care. The concise format will enable the reader to quickly locate the information needed and provides alerts regarding critical 'must-do's' that often apply to the ill or injured adult or child. Those new to emergency care will find this an invaluable source of clinical information that will provide guidance and structure to the patient assessment and management process. The skills section provides a quick resume of the many clinical skills needed in emergency care, ideal as an introduction for the uninitiated and as a refresher when skills are performed infrequently. This handbook will empower nurses and imbue them with the confidence to deliver excellence in emergency care. Written by clinical nurses and subject experts, the Oxford Handbook of Emergency Nursing is a unique and invaluable companion for registered and student nurses, and all health care professionals working in emergency care.

Over the past 20 years, effective treatments for lipid disorders have become available. With the high incidence of coronary artery disease in the developed world, interest in this area has greatly increased, and 10% of the UK population now qualify for lipid lowering treatment. It is therefore important that the rational use of lipid-lowering treatment is based on an understanding of the underlying metabolic problem. This comprehensive but concise guide makes basic lipid metabolism understandable to the reader without over-simplification. The often confusing classification of lipid disorders is explained clearly, and this book will appeal to cardiologists, trainees and all related healthcare professionals who are involved in prescribing lipid-lowering medications on a daily basis.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative and irreversible brain disorder that causes significant neurological impairment. The condition is closely associated with ageing, and it is estimated that 2-5% of people over 65 years of age and up to 20% of those over 85 years of age suffer from the disease. Although the disorder is well characterised neuropathologically, accurate diagnosis can be problematic for the clinician. Part of the Oxford Neuropsychiatry Library series, this practical pocketbook will summarise the latest understanding of the possible causes of the disease, the methods of diagnosis and assessment, and current management techniques. The book will also include helpful chapters on supporting the patient/caregiver and safety/legal issues.

This compact but comprehensive guide to all aspects of hand surgery encompasses the appropriate aspects of plastic surgery, orthopaedic surgery and hand therapy, and rheumatology and biomechanics, providing a single source of information on this specialty. It features the detailed classifications, nerve root values and outcomes needed by practising hand surgeons, but which will also act as an invaluable, well-structured revision tool for trainee hand surgeons about to undertake the Hand Diploma. The book will also prove a useful guide for orthopaedic and plastic surgery trainees, needing to get the most from their attachment. Practising Hand Therapists and trainees will find clear information for their role in supporting patients with hand and wrist problems. People dealing with hand and wrist problems (GPs, theatre staff, clinic staff) would also find this to be a useful reference.

To the adult cardiologist, the language of congenital heart disease can be confusing and the spectrum of disease bewildering. Many find the prospect of meeting an adult with complex congenital heart disease in the emergency department disturbing, and rightly so. This book aims to dispel confusion and equip cardiology trainees, general cardiologists and acute medicine physicians with a sound understanding of the principles of the physiology and management of adult congenital heart disease, so that they can treat emergencies and recognise the need for referral to a specialist unit. With easy-to-understand diagrams and key clinical points, this handbook provides both rapid reference for use when the clinical need arises and also an insight into the basic principles of congenital heart disease, giving the reader a good grounding in the care of the adult with congenital heart disease.

The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Diagnosis is the first and only book so far to describe the differential diagnostic thought process so that it can be learnt logically and systematically. It also shows how to justify subjective diagnostic impressions clearly and logically in an evidence-based way. It provides the differential diagnosis of each symptom, physical sign and initial test result. The book uses pattern recognition tables which enable the reader to scan the page to see which diagnostic application would apply best to a patients findingsor case history. The book is aimed at medical students and others who wish to improve their diagnostic skills. It describes how to justify diagnoses and management decisions verbally or in writing and clarifies what evidence is needed to do so from research, and its statistical features. It provides senior doctors with a framework and examples to help teach trainees and students to approach diagnostic problems in a logical way and to justify their opinions. It provides all doctors with practical help when dealing with problems outside their immediate field of expertise, especially general practitioners and those faced with unforeseen situations.

Cardiovascular disease is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in people with diabetes, and the routine management of patients with diabetes now includes close attention to the methods of controlling hyperglycaemia that bring about the maximum reduction in cardiovascular events. Once patients with diabetes develop cardiovascular disease there are specific considerations on the most appropriate cardiological treatment. Staff working in coronary care units and acute stroke units need to be familiar with the investigation and treatment of diabetes. This book details the complications that diabetes presents in relation to heart disease and discusses the possible treatments that can be explored.

Addiction Medicine is a concise and practical guide for students and practitioners of medicine and other health professions who come into contact with people with substance use disorders. It provides the knowledge base and the skill set required for good professional practice in this field. Substance use rates amongst the top four risk factors contributing to the global burden of disease. Substance use disorders can cause, mimic, underlie or complicate a large number of common medical and psychiatric disorders. Making a correct diagnosis of the substance use disorder can facilitate clinical diagnosis, avoid unnecessary tests, shorten hospital stay and make the clinician and patient's life easier and safer. Increasingly, the ability to diagnose and initiate management of substance use disorders is the responsibility of all medical and health professionals. This invaluable guide discusses the broad range of management options and the evidence base behind modern addiction medicine. The first chapter outlines important background information and summarises the principles of addiction medicine. It encompasses the epidemiology of psychoactive substance use, the pharmacology and neurobiology of the major substances, and the natural history of the main clinical disorders. Two chapters summarise the principles of assessment and diagnosis and management which inform the practice of addiction medicine. Background and management focussed on specific types of psychoactive substances are covered in detail. The remainder of the book is devoted to the management of addiction medicine experienced by specific groups and in specific circumstances and places, within the broad professional and legal context. A series of appendices provides summaries of concepts and practical tools to aid management.

Written by experienced expeditioners, the handbook is organized in to eight main sections and includes information on fieldcraft, diagnosis and treatment of medical problems encountered during an expedition (divided anatomically), environmental hazards, crisis management and issues to be dealt with after returning home. It also covers basic information about how to plan for an expedition, how to keep the expedition members healthy, how to diagnose and manage their medical problems in remote environments and provide brief summaries of medical problems peculiar to different expedition environments. This pocket-sized book contains all you need to know to minimise health risks, to protect your health and to deal with unexpected medical problems while you are travelling in remote, wilderness areas of the world.

With advances in medical technology and with many large scale, longitudinal studies now underway, social and biological science have built a convincing case that the varieties of madness subsumed by the label schizophrenia are created, fueled, and sustained by genetic, biochemical and environmental factors. However, with the ever more detailed models of the neurobiological and social systems out of which schizophrenia is born, it is possible to overlook how suffering persons actually experience their symptoms and navigate their way through life. This book is unique in focusing on the experiences of those who have schizophrenia, and who must make sense of and live with this condition. It explores how schizophrenia disrupts person's experiences of themselves as beings in the world and how that disruption poses enduring barriers to recovery - barriers not reducible to issues of social justice or biology. After presenting a model of how disturbances in self-experience are related to but not identical with symptoms and dysfunction, it looks at the implications for the development of therapies that might provide greater opportunities for recovery. The book provides a highly readable and humane examination of this common condition.

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, with a prevalence of 4-10/1000 and an incidence of 50-70/100,000 per year. It is often life-long, can appear at any age and includes a diverse group of neurological disorders, which present considerable challenges in diagnosis and management. Therefore, it is a condition that will frequently be seen by GPs and by a wide range of specialist physicians such as neurologists, psychiatrists, neurosurgeons, paediatricians, geriatricians as well as allied health professionals such as nurses (in particular epilepsy specialist nurses), EEG technicians, neuropsychologists and researchers with an interest in epilepsy. The diversity of epilepsy syndromes makes it difficult to achieve an adequate level of knowledge and expertise in their management. Epilepsy is a comprehensive handbook which guides the reader though all aspects of epilepsy, both practical and academic, covering all aspects of diagnosis and management of the patient with epilepsy in a clear, concise and practical fashion. The book appeals to a wide audience by teaching a simple but highly practical method to approaching the classification and diagnosis of epilepsy, and then provides patient-centred information on pharmacological and non-pharmacological management.

Heart failure is an important and ever expanding sub-specialty of cardiology. Many health care professional bodies are now developing specialist expertise in heart failure. This is true for cardiologists in training, consultant cardiologists, care of the elderly and general physicians, cardiothoracic surgeons, primary care doctors, pharmacists and specialist nurses. With advances in medical therapy, the prognosis of the condition has improved dramatically. Whereas once heart failure was a pre-terminal diagnosis, now for many it is treatable. However, some patients remain symptomatic and at high risk of death despite maximal medical therapy. These patients can benefit from a range of novel device therapies. Of course for those who remain symptomatic despite optimal treatment, cardiac transplantation remains an option. This book comprehensively covers all aspects necessary to manage a patient with heart failure. It gives simple, clear advice on the diagnosis, investigation and treatment options available, highlighting the current evidence-base.The chapters provide concise and objective information to guide all health care professionals involved in modern day multi-disciplinary management of the syndrome. The book is set out logically to mirror the patient journey in heart failure. This book is the first practical manual of heart failure management that addresses the needs of all the health care professionals involved. The ultimate aim of this book is to facilitate the practice of optimal evidence-based management for heart failure patients.

In recent years there has been a major move within psychiatry to foster a deeper understanding of the conceptual underpinnings of mental health. This new approach has drawn in equal measure on both the humanities and medicine. Essential Philosophy if Psychiatry is both an introduction to, and a summary of a rapidly growing field. It is the first concise introduction to what is a contested field, written by one of the people driving it forward. Because recent philosophy of psychiatry has drawn from moral philosophy, the philosophy of mind and language, and the philosophy of science, it is difficult to get a clear overview of the field. This book does just that. It is divided into three parts: Values, Meanings and Facts. In addition, there is a short chapter of conclusions, a glossary of philosophical terms and a guide to further reading. For anyone looking for an accessible, undaunting introduction to this field, this is the essential text.