Customer Reviews

Manual of Pain Management

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The Manual of Pain Management is the ideal reference guide for the busy clinician who needs a brief synopsis of major pain diagnoses and how to start treating the pain. The chapters are self-contained and provide a basic framework of the diagnosis and treatment of pain complaints. Each chapter was written by an expert in that area.

The manual is organized with descriptions of the most common pain syndromes classified anatomically and by syndrome type. Basic physiologic concepts are also included: required testing, medications, procedures and therapies commonly used for patients.

There are new standards for practice promulgated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). This book addresses some of the questions a clinician might have.

While the Manual is directed at clinicians, it is surprisingly easily read by the informed lay-person who is trying to wade through much of the often contradictory advice offered by the wealth of pain guidebooks and miracle remedies. Such a broad references is a valuable adjunct to the flood of material available on the internet, and can be of use to help separate the wheat from the chaff. This "ease-of-use" is a result of the number of chapters prepared by practitioners that balances a more research oriented focus of many other works.

I used the first edition of this book when I was a resident, and this edition should be part of every medical and surgical residents' library. I bought this edition for my office. The book is well organized and well written. The review of the science of pain is especially good for those of us in practice who want to stay current. The tables are very good and the illustrations are helpful. I was disappointed that there wasn't more on some of the orthopedic surgical options for patients suffering from back pain, but the chapter on neurosurgical approaches is especially good. The illustrations for some of the "how-to" chapters are very good.

The chapter on legal issues is a must read for all clinicians. The chapter on geriatric issues is also very good.

This is a book that is very informative and well written. It has something for the medical student all the way up to a seasoned subspecialist. It's multidisciplinary approach and well illustrated "how to" philosophy make it a must have for any pain library.

This could have been a better book if it was not riddled with typographical errors which were a major distraction while I read through it. Page number 248 alone exhibited several 'creative modifications' in spelling some proper nouns. I do not remember ever seeing a reputable medical book with so many typos in it.

Some chapters are better written than others, there is at least one chapter on procedure(s) with not a single illustration, where many were needed.

Hopefully the editors would be able to do a better job next time around.

If I were told that I could only have five books to take with me on a lifelong journey, one of them would be "The Manual of Pain Management." And the other four would be the next four books Fausett and Warfield write.