Chronic Pain: A Primary Care Guide to Practical Management, 2nd Edition

ISBN: 9781603274647
ISBN-10: 1603274642
Copyright: 2009
Edition: 2nd
Author: Marcus, Dawn A.
Doody's Expert Review    Score: 100
Reviewer: Vincent Carr,  DO, MSA, FACC, FACP  (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences)
Description
This book on pain management is part of the Current Clinical Practice Series of high quality, evidence-based books for primary care physicians. This revision of the 2005 edition includes numerous updates consistent with the literature, but also adds helpful assessment tools.
Purpose
The incidence of chronic pain encountered in primary care is high, and this book presents an approach for primary care physicians to use in caring for these patients. It provides a way to assess and treat the complex problems of chronic pain. This is an extremely helpful and practical book.
Audience
Although written by an anesthesiologist, the book covers the broad subject of chronic pain very well, staying away from specialty jargon and complexity, to give primary care physicians a very workable reference. The author is a true authority, one who can summarize the subject in an understandable and concise manner.
Features
The book has a number of unique aspects. First, it takes on the concept of risk management in caring for chronic pain patients. Addressing the fact that there has been significant controversy in trying to find the balance between adequate pain relief and the regulatory issues surrounding chronic pain care, the author highlights pertinent necessities in documenting the assessment and diagnosis. She also presents an approach to treatment guidelines for treating patients with chronic pain and reviews the numerous prominent chronic pain syndromes encountered in everyday medical practice. Numerous sections explore gender and cultural differences in chronic pain, discuss how to approach chronic pain in a patient with a terminal illness, and provide many useful assessment tools. A CD-ROM includes many of the tools and the highlighted boxes and figures from the book.
Assessment
This is a tremendous addition to a primary care practitioner's library and well worth the price.
Review Questionnaire
Range Question Score
1-10 Are the author's objectives met? 10
1-10 Rate the worthiness of those objectives. 10
1-5 Is this written at an appropriate level? 5
1-5 Is there significant duplication? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 5
1-5 Are there significant omissions? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 5
1-5 Rate the authority of the authors. 5
1-5 Are there sufficient illustrations? 5
1-5 Rate the pedagogic value of the illustrations. 5
1-5 Rate the print quality of the illustrations. 5
1-5 Are there sufficient references? 5
1-5 Rate the currency of the references. 5
1-5 Rate the pertinence of the references. 5
1-5 Rate the helpfulness of the index. 5
1-5 If important in this specialty, rate the physical appearance of the book N/A
1-10 Is this a worthwhile contribution to the field? 10
1-10 If this is a 2nd or later edition, is this new edition needed? 10