This book teaches the reader how to gather clinical information effectively, accurately and safely even when time is at a premium.

Table of Contents

• Foreword
• Preface to 1st edition
• Preface to 2nd edition
• About the author
• Acknowledgements
• Selected useful resources
• The focused consultation
• Focused clinical assessment
• Useful consultation tools
• Red flags in general practice
• Undifferentiated and miscellaneous presentations
• Suspected cancer
• Weight loss
• Tiredness
• Dizziness
• Chronic pain
• Sudden collapse and syncope
• Frequent attenders
• Medication review and polypharmacy
• Medically unexplained symptoms
• Insomnia
• Irritability and ‘stress’
• Domestic violence
• Homelessness
• Paediatrics and adolescent health
• The sick and/or feverish child
• Suspected meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia
• Neonatal jaundice
• Faltering growth
• Headache and migraine in children
• Head injury in children
• Suspected cancer in children and adolescents
• Abdominal pain in children
• Hearing loss in children
• Childhood cough
• Childhood wheeze
• Constipation in children
• Childhood obesity
• Suspected child abuse and neglect
• Nocturnal enuresis
• Knee problems in children
• Hip problems in children
• Adolescent health problems
• Self-harm in teenagers
• Eating disorders
• Autism-spectrum disorder
• Cardiovascular
• Chest pain
• Palpitations
• Cardiovascular risk assessment
• Hypertension
• Atrial fibrillation
• Heart failure
• Peripheral vascular disease
• Respiratory
• Shortness of breath
• Haemoptysis
• Suspected lung cancer
• Asthma
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Suspected pneumonia
• Pleural effusion
• Pulmonary embolism
• Endocrine and metabolic
• Diabetes review
• Obesity
• Hirsutism in women
• Hypothyroidism
• Hyperthyroidism
• Hyponatraemia
• Hypernatraemia
• Hypokalaemia
• Hyperkalaemia
• Hypocalcaemia
• Hypercalcaemia
• Gastrointestinal
• Nausea and vomiting
• Dysphagia
• Dyspepsia and reflux
• Upper gastrointestinal bleeding and melaena
• Abdominal pain
• Constipation
• Diarrhoea
• Rectal bleeding and suspected bowel cancer
• Abnormal liver function tests
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Coeliac disease
• Infectious diseases
• Fever of unknown origin
• Fever and illness in the returning traveller
• HIV infection and AIDS
• Tuberculosis
• Rheumatic fever
• Haematology
• Iron-deficiency anaemia
• Macrocytic anaemia (B12 and folate deficiency)
• Bleeding disorders
• Myeloma
• Musculoskeletal
• Soft-tissue injury
• Acute hot and swollen joint
• Chronic musculoskeletal pain
• Polyarthralgia
• Neck pain
• Back pain
• Shoulder and arm problems
• Elbow problems
• Hand problems
• Hip pain
• Groin problems
• Leg pain and/or swelling
• Knee pain
• Foot and ankle problems
• Gout
• Osteoporosis
• Neurology
• Headache
• Transient ischaemic attack and stroke
• Head injury in adults
• Suspected or confirmed brain tumour
• Tremor
• Motor neurone disease
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Multiple sclerosis
• Gynaecology
• Combined oral contraception
• Menorrhagia
• Amenorrhoea
• Breast lumps
• Loss of libido
• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• Suspected ovarian cancer
• Obstetrics
• Routine antenatal care
• Bleeding in early pregnancy
• Abdominal pain in pregnancy
• Pre-eclampsia
• Urology and renal medicine
• Suspected urinary tract infection in women
• Lower urinary tract symptoms in men
• Urinary incontinence
• Urethral discharge in men
• Scrotal and testicular problems
• Erectile dysfunction
• Renal or ureteric colic (kidney stones)
• Haematuria
• Chronic kidney disease
• Mental health
• Depression
• Self-harm and harm to others
• Anxiety, phobias and panic disorder
• Alcohol screening
• Alcohol dependence
• Illicit drug misuse
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Mania
• Schizophrenia
• Skin
• Moles and malignant melanoma
• Pressure ulcers
• Ophthalmology
• Eye injuries
• The acute red eye
• Gradual painless visual disturbance
• Sudden painless visual disturbance
• Eye problems in older people
• Ear, nose and throat
• Neck swelling
• Sore throat
• Ear pain
• Hearing loss in adults
• Tinnitus
• Sinusitis and facial pain
• Problems in older people
• General health assessment in older people
• Cognitive problems and dementia
• Falls in older people
• Delirium and acute confusional state
• Depression in older people
• Palliative and end-of-life care
• Parkinson's disease