Ferri’s Clinical Advisor 2024, 1st Edition

By: Fred F. Ferri 

ISBN: 9780323755764 

Publication Date: July 12, 2023 

Reviewer: Cassie Scripter, MD (University of Kansas School of Medicine – Wichita) 

Description 

This comprehensive book covers medical topics relevant to today’s clinicians. It is divided into five sections, including diseases and disorders, differential diagnosis, clinical algorithms, laboratory tests and interpretation of results, and clinical practice guidelines. The eBook contains additional content on clinical topics as well as patient teaching guides. 

Purpose 

The purpose of the book is to provide a user-friendly, relevant, and comprehensive clinical reference. These are worthy objectives, as it is imperative for busy clinicians who strive to provide efficient, evidence-based care to have a wide variety of information readily available. The print book is large, but well organized and useful as a desk reference. The eBook is easily accessible in a variety of settings, including the bedside. 

Audience 

The book’s intended audience is physicians and allied health professionals. It specifically targets and meets the needs of primary care physicians who focus on acute, chronic, and preventive care. The author is a professor in the Department of Medicine at the Warren Albert Medical School of Brown University. 

Features 

The diseases and disorders section encompasses most of the book and includes bulleted information as well as tables, algorithms, and graphics. In the first section, each disease or disorder is categorized into basic information, diagnosis, treatment, and pearls and considerations. The categories are further divided into information on disease/disorder definitions, ICD-10 codes, epidemiology and demographics, natural history, screening and monitoring, physical findings and presentation, etiology, laboratory tests, imaging studies, nonpharmacologic therapy, acute general treatment, and chronic treatment. Each page contains headers indicating access to additional online material, patient teaching guides, and algorithms. The differential diagnosis portion includes ICD-10 codes and potential etiologies in list format. The clinical algorithms section includes tables, graphs, flow charts, images, and algorithms. The laboratory tests and interpretation of results section includes synonyms for the laboratory tests as well as normal ranges and potential interpretations of abnormal results. The last section, titled “Clinical Practice Guidelines,” contains information on immunizations. The sections are well organized, and the writing is succinct and easy to follow. More robust sections on pharmacotherapy for obesity, postoperative bariatric surgery management, and an algorithm for thyroid nodule management would be clinically useful. 

Assessment 

This book is a valuable resource for practicing clinicians, as it provides a consistent, clear format with clinically relevant information. It is useful for readers who desire a quick reference or a slightly deeper dive into clinical topics. The book is comparable to other medical reference texts, such as 5-Minute Clinical Consult, 32nd Edition, Domino (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2023) in its content, but the five comprehensive, easily accessible sections make it stand out from similar titles. The online patient teaching guides are well-written and useful to practicing physicians. 

Evidence-based medicine is ever-changing, and books require constant updating to keep busy clinicians at the forefront of medical care. 

©Doody’s Review Service, 2023, Cassie Scripter, MD (University of Kansas School of Medicine – Wichita), Doody’s Score: 95 – 4 Stars! 

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