Red Book: 2018-2021 Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases, 31st Edition

ISBN: 9781610021463
ISBN-10: 1610021460
Copyright: 2018
Edition: 31st
Editor: Kimberlin, David W., Long, Sarah S., Brady, Michael T., Jackson, Mary Anne,
Doody's Expert Review    Score: 98
Reviewer: Maria Alkureishi,  MD  (University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine)
Description
The Red Book is the preeminent resource on pediatric infectious disease. Now in its 31st edition, it provides the most up-to-date information on a wide variety of infectious diseases that physicians encounter in children. Written by the top experts in the field and edited by the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), there is simply no better or more authoritative resource.
Purpose
The purpose is to provide a succinct yet complete description of a large number of infectious diseases seen in children. This resource is updated every three years, and includes all of the recent recommendations, consensus of expert opinion, and current best available evidence. The effort that goes into each edition is staggering given the volume of information and scores of expert collaborators, and without fail this book delivers.
Audience
This book is a must for anyone seeing pediatric patients in a clinical setting. It should be on the desks of everyone who cares for children, from nurses and midlevel providers to physicians and trainees. As a busy practicing inpatient and outpatient provider, I turn to the Red Book often to either inform or direct my patient care or to use it as an educational tool for my trainees.
Features
The bright red cover is synonymous with high quality, reliable, and up-to-date information. It covers everything from clinical manifestations and etiology to epidemiology, diagnostic tests, treatment, and recommendations for isolation and control measures. In short, it provides everything one would want or need to know in order to diagnose and treat a myriad of diseases in children. The book is organized exceptionally well with an exhaustive and easy to use index. Every word has been carefully considered in order to provide a vast amount of information in a succinct and to the point manner. Tables are short and contain only the necessary information.
Assessment
I always have a copy of the latest Red Book in my office and it is the go-to staple for anyone seeing pediatric patients. This edition is no exception. There is just no other comparable resource available on pediatric infectious diseases.
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. 4
1-5 Rate the print quality of the illustrations. 4
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? N/A