For commonly occurring signs and symptoms, each record includes questions to ask while taking a medical history and signs to look for when performing a medical examination. Information about each sign or symptom may also include pediatric and geriatric pointers, alerts for symptoms caused by herbal medicines, special considerations, and patient counseling information. Many entries are enhanced with illustrations of the symptom, instructions on how to elicit a sign, or charts comparing possible causes of a symptom. Where relevant one may also find brief, graphical physiology reviews. Patient teaching aids are included for some records.
Teaching aids are easy to understand, generally include illustrations, and are reproducible.
The inside front and back covers of the book list English to Spanish translations of signs and symptoms. This book has been designed to be used by professionals. The language used is at the professional level. Reference staff should be wary of pointing this title out to consumers, as possible causes for headache include Ebola virus, meningitis, and brain tumor with no indication of incidence or likelihood of these conditions occurring. This title would be most appropriate for a hospital library or a library serving medical and nursing students.