On Call Cardiology

PREFACE

On-call housestaff and medical students virtually run teaching hospitals at night and on weekends. They should be proud of their achievements. Their hard-earned competence results from being on call in hospitals that handle a wide variety of medical emergencies and admissions to wards.

 

The purpose of this book is to strengthen the reader's ability to deal with on-call problems in cardiology. The text emphasizes

 

■ How to approach on-call problems with a relevant history and physical examination; coverage of cardiac bedside diagnosis is given in depth.

 

■ How to define the problem accurately, with consideration of appropriate causes and the differential diagnosis.

 

■ How to exclude mimics before ordering treatment that may be misguided by incorrect definition of the problem.

 

This second edition is a thoroughly revised text. Approximately 125 new pages have been added. New features include

 

■ Expansion of major chapters to keep abreast of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

 

■ At the end of many chapters that deal with patient-related problems, Study Sections that will allow trainees to study the topic in greater detail when time permits.

 

■ A new chapter: Evaluation and Treatment of Patients With Murmurs.

 

■ In the Appendix: A Global Drug Table that gives the generic and trade names of cardiac drugs in the Untied States, Canada, UK, Europe, and Japan. This table should prove useful for all doctors and emergency physicians worldwide.

 

Cardiologic emergencies are a common scenario in the emergency room, in ICUs, and on wards. This is not surprising because more than one million individuals die from cardiovascular disease annually in North America. Over half a million heart attack patients survive and are discharged from hospitals in the United States and Canada each year. The management of acute heart attacks requires the differentiation of mimics of acute myocardial infarction, rapid confirmation of the diagnosis, and administration of thrombolytic therapy within 20 minutes of the patient's arrival at the emergency room.