Customer Reviews

Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine: with STUDENT CONSULT Access

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wish Kumar and Clark contained as many pictures and tables as Davidson's does. It makes a hell lot of a difference while studying for examinations and in the wards. Davidson's classification of information in superb Disease Management tables, Differential diagnosis tables ("Major Manifestations of Disease" part) is far superior in this regard. Further, Kumar and Clark lacks those Evidence-Based-Medicine panels in Davidson's which puts K&C backward in time. There isn't enough emphasis on EBM and Problem Based Learning and Symptomatology. The Infective Endocarditis section lacks mention of the Duke's Criteria. Also there isn't much on Geriatric Medicine. Davidson's has a seperate chapter on Geriatric Medicine. Moreover Davidson's provides clear-cut Disease Management guidelines with better clarity. The information boxes in Davidson's are simply adorable and K&C is nowhere as good as Davidson's as far as this is concerned. Also, each chapter in Davidson's begins with a flow-chart on Clinical Examination pertaining to the body system concerned, all with color photos! - a feature lacking in K&C. Though K&C's review of Clinical Examination is more detailed...still it could use a few more pictures. K&C could learn from Davidson's presentation style! The number of clinical photographs are also fewer than in Davidson's. Although it was K&C that brought in color in print, etc first, the 19th ed of Davidson's has overtaken the 5th ed of K&C even in this regard. Davidson's is probably the most visually captivating book in the undergraduate curriculum. It also boasts of an "International Panel of Advisors" that has helped shape the content of the book. All of these advantages that Davidson's has make it more accessible than K&C in the OP, ward, before exams....you name it!!

Well K&C is better than Davidson's in a few aspects. One thing that I particularly like is the way things are explained in much greater detail than Davidson's. K&C contains a lot more info than Davidson's as far as Pathophysiology is concerned. But then, when ur already familiar with pathophsiology as a practicing physician or a final yr. student,- Diagnosis(Symptomatology plays an important role), Disease Management and Investigations are more important. Davidson's has better clarity and accessibility in these areas. A few more diseases and syndromes (eg. Pearson's syndrome,etc) are covered in K&C that are lacking in Davidson's. The Psychiatry and Neurology sections are better. K&C helps in understanding disease mechanisms better and it's style is more explanatory. This is one major factor that made me purchase this book in-spite of all its drawbacks. Also I liked the "Ask the Author" feature in the online edition.

I hope the authors of K&C make the above improvements in the next edition. I really want K&C to be on par with Davidson's, which is what most of my colleagues use.

Undergrad Medical Student,
India

having read a multitude of medical textbooks including harrison's, current medical diagnosis and treatment, cecil essentials i can honestly say that this is perhaps the BEST clinical textbook i have seen so far in my experience!

the book is a beautiful one to behold, complete with EXCELLENT diagrams of the clinical presentations of many diseases and fantastic charts of differentials as well as evidence-based medicine all in COLOR!!! i can't tell you how much easier this is on the eyes than slogging through page after page of grey text!

every chapter is organized in a similar fashion with the first two pages going over all the relevant parts of an exam in a specific specialty like cardiology, gastroenterology, etc. davidson's reviews some basic pathophysiology, pertinent studies within the field before launching into the various disease entities.

although the book is not nearly as comprehensive as harrison's principles of internal medicine, it's structured much better for those with limited amounts of reading time (i.e. medical students cramming for the next shelf exam, residents trying to catch up on their sleep, and even newly dubbed attendings who are expecting children!!!).

this book will SURELY help you prepare for those annoying attending stumper questions like: who can tell me all the extra-pulmonary manifestations of sarcoid? what are the exam findings in a dialysis patient?

no respectable internal medicine library should lack this book!

This is the book for you! Clear, concise, up-to-date and full-colour detail made this book the most useful book on my shelf.

I bought this book since i used this for my undergrad years.As everyone knows it would be easy to read the books which you are familiar with.Also the illustrations and hand written diagrams are the best you could get, for eg: complications of chronic kidney disease is given in one simple diagram which no one could never forget, and also easy to interpret.
Amazing text book in one simple word.
Srinivas.

Davidson's Principles and Practices of Medicine is a good overview of the different branches of internal medicine. In particular, Respiratory, Cardiolovascular, Gastrointestinal and Nervous system are well organized, concise and quite informative. It is not a very good source for infectious diseases, rheumatology, nephrology or psychiatry.
I like how the book is organized into a brief introduction to organ physiology, major manifestation of diseases and individual diseases. The section on Liver diseases maybe the best source for learning the subject in this category of books. It might be worth borrowing/buying this book just for that.

A truly outstanding book. Being a big fan of the classic American textbooks I discovered this wonderful book just recently. Traditional medical knowledge, nothing less than what you have to know. Excellent not only for exams etc, but for everyday clinical practice. I have used extensively all the editions of Harrison's from the 8th till the current 15th, and I'll purchase the 16th as well, but now I know, what is important for my patients is really there. Masterly written, as if all the authors wanted to do was to put this amount of knowledge straight into our heads. I dont know if it is better than Kumar and Clarke, still Davidson's has the essense of the classic!

This is an excellent internal medicine textbook for medical students. It is less detailed than Harrison's, but has the essential information you'll need in the first two years of medicine; at the very least, its structured and organized approach will point you in the right direction (e.g. towards a recent review paper). It is far better organized than the Merck Manual.

It's particular strengths are (1) its comprehensive tables for differential diagnosis; and (2) its chapters structured on both symptoms/signs (e.g. "facial pain") as well as classes of diseases (e.g. "connective tissue diseases"). The latter provides a framework for certain symptoms/signs, while allowing you to investigate specific diseases once you've narrowed down your differential. Finally, it has summaries of clinically important physiology that can be hard to find in large basic science physiology textbooks.

The only negative I've noticed so far is that its clinical neuroanatomy content was not sufficient. But then again, there are whole textbooks devoted to clinically relevant neuroanatomy (e.g. Snell, Young and Young), so perhaps that's expecting too much.

This book is highly recommended.

Once you get on the wards, this is by far the best book. It helps you with physical examination in the opening of each chapter, then lists symptoms and works outward from there. This, while people complained about it meaning that material is repeated in the disease sections, is INCREDIBLY helpful when you are new. It tells you the differential diagnosis for each symptom and what the workup should be. It's not as involved and impossible as Harrison (less research and "cytokine" oriented) but practical. I was the only one with this book and everyone, including the attendings, always wanted to use it. It also mentions the major EBM clinical trials - so you always look good about knowing what trial the guidelines come from and when they refer to them, you know what they mean.

I was really surprised to see that so many people didn't like it. That said, the nephrology chapter was relatively weak, and lots of the subspecialties as well, and it is definitely not a basic pathophysiology book or basic science text - but as a textbook of Internal Medicine, it was really good, friendly for students, and above all, PRACTICAL.

I decided to read this book for my final examinations in medicine. I found it hard to read, primarly because of the "Major manifestations" sections. Having theses sections in the book means that it is written about each disease in at least two different places and therefore there are many repetitions. Also there are too many boxes and tables (usually I really like tables and figures, but not when they are too many). After a few chapters I gave up and changed to another book, which was much better organized (Kumar and Clark).

Davidson's is a great source for information for all types of conditions, written in a very clear format, separated into Principles, and Practice of medicine. It has great flow charts, tables, and diagrams - all very useful and conscise. It also has great in text references for further information on various topics. I am an allied health student who finds that Davidson's clarifies understanding of pathological conditions. I would highly recommend this book!