Pediatric Primary Care

Abstract

The first edition of this book,<i>Basic Pediatrics for the Primary Health Care Provider</i>, was written specifically for nonphysician members of the pediatric health care team. According to the author, "the target audience for this new edition is expanded to include primary care physicians." This is the major problem of the text. The practicing-physician reader would find the presentations oversimplified and somewhat verbose. This is especially true of the chapters on interviewing techniques and the physical examination. In the section on signs, symptoms, and diseases, some topics are discussed in detail, but the majority are superficially presented. In addition, clinical problems frequently encountered by primary care physicians, such as failure to thrive, short stature, chronic diarrhea, and coagulation disorders, to name a few, are omitted from the text. There are some excellent chapters, notably the ones on nutrition, developmental behavior problems, schoolrelated problems, and adolescent health care. The practical aspects