Erudite exposition of clinical medicine
The Art of Clinical Medicine
Author: Dr. S.D.K. Perera, Consulting Physician, National Hospital,
Colombo
Saraswathie Publishers, No. 2/60, Circular Road, Divulapitiya
Review: Prof. U.S. Jayawickrama M.D., F.R.C.P.
MEDICINE: It is the duty of teachers of medicine to impart to
students their experience in the practice of the art and science of
clinical medicine. This is of particular importance in an age where
clinical medicine is threatened with extinction.
Computerized laboratory investigations and sophisticated procedures
are being widely used to make a diagnosis without a careful clinical
examination. It is much more satisfying to the clinician to make a
diagnosis of a lung abscess or hypothyroidism on clinical history and
examination and confirm this by appropriate investigatory procedures,
rather than through the reverse.
Dr. Perera has made a determined effort to give the details of
eliciting the history and physical signs and their interpretation, with
illustrations and useful differential diagnoses. This book should prove
to be a useful aid to students who are now studying medicine and to
those who wish to re-learn the art and science of clinical medicine.
He concludes by listing the complete investigatory procedures that
need to be done in different clinical disorders. A medical student who
has the ambition to pursue clinical medicine to its logical conclusion
must remember word by word Dr. Perera's accurate instructions.
Judged from the little knowledge I possess of the vagaries of body
and mind Dr. S.D.K. Perera's erudite exposition on clinical medicine
merits commendation as it is a valuable contribution to the relevant
field both here in Sri Lanka and in the international sphere. |
