The Merck Manual of Patient Symptoms: A Concise, Practical Guide to Etiology, Evaluation, and Treatment

Merck Manuals or essential when the power is off and you can't use your computer patient diagnostic program. Every Doctor, PA, NP, Paramedic etc should have one. I keep one in my bag in my vehicle just in case the world turns upside down. I also keep a "U.S. Army Special Forces Medical Handbook" in the bag as well in case conventional therapies are not available.

This is a short but very comprehension book! I love how this book uses clinical names for symptoms rather than plain language. I used it for a pathophysiology class where we had to use proper medical terminology when completing homework. It made it very easy to review case studies and answer questions about patient symptoms. I would have given this 5 stars as it could have included more symptoms.

This is a great title to have around the house. It's not as 'in depth' as 'The Merck Manual' but then it specifically isn't supposed to be. I would recommend this to anyone who likes to get a feel for what is likely to be going on when symptoms arrive, and especially to parents of younger children who always seem to manage to have something malfunctioning in their young bodies. The book would make a great gift without fear of confusing the recipient with medical 'jargon' when the time arose to consult it.

Very similar to the Merck Manual Go-To-Home Guide for Symptoms, but with a more technical vocabulary. It is set up the same way with descriptions and charts, but is in a somewhat smaller, more portable, format. I imagine this would be the one for nursing and med-school students and other professional medical workers and technicians.

i am a medical student and i was looking for some sort of diagnostic sieve/flow chart in a book to help me streamline and categorize my thought process towards developing useful differentials.. and i came upon this book... although it is helpful in this regard, i was expecting a bit more differentials, as well as a bit more details in the pathophysiology and treatment sections given that it was a MERCK.....nonetheless this book is worth buying given its price and has served its purpose somewhat... looking forward to future revisions

I am not a medical professional. Have taken a few Red Cross first aid class (including "Wilderness and Remote First Aid" - excellent!), and this book helps me translate between the super-comprehensive "Merck Manual" and my limited medical training. If you're going to own the full Merck Manual, and you're not a medical professional, you should also own this book.

Easy to use. Very much info.

This book, is excellent. Some symptoms are not included, e.g. skin discoloration, and others.I am full satisfied. Thanks.When the next edition?

Very thorough but for the layman could confuse and lead to alarm bells ringing, technically quite difficult to follow, and a lot of things omitted. Better by far the Merck Medical Handbook all 1000 plus pages unfortunately now somewhat dated from 2004, but brilliantly laid out as a 'family doctor' type book.

Analyzing a symptom and keeping the differential diagnostic isn't always easy, but the Merck Manual makes it simple and concise. It is a little book to be kept close, helpful in many situation. It is a bit too simple, so the detailed explanations are lacking and the treatment is not very complete. It is more of a guide to build up our diagnostics while confronting a symptom. Good!

Really useful for me in my ambulatory block of clerkship. Helps guide history and physical, with a cursory explanation of each item on the differential

It's a good book

As usual with Merck manuals: top quality in every aspect.