PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
There is always a good reason to write a new book when there are already a number on the market. It seemed to me that none of those currently available adequately conveyed the concise information needed for surviving clinical posting and final exams.
I published the first edition when I was a final year medical student with no real expectation that I would come up with second edition so early in my professional life. The great encouragement by the readers made me to bring out the second edition with more concise and user friendly tools. No amount of appreciation is sufficient to them because without their support this edition would never have seen the light of the day.
I am happy by the success of first edition as it was appreciated by many renowned teachers and eminent physicians of Nepal as well as reviews published in the journals and National Daily News papers which started the era of medical publication in Nepal.
First edition was co-authored by Dr. Dipendra Chaudhary my batch mate and best friend when we were medical student. Therefore in this edition also I have kept the tradition of having medical students as co-author because I feel that they know where an author has to emphasize in its contents as they are the readers. I am glad to have multitalented medical student as co-authors who have an intense desire to change the way of tomorrow’s practice of clinical medicine. And I do assure our reader that the tradition will be followed unconditionally in future editions in the quest of a more concise and user friendly book. Because of these reasons the title from this edition has been changed to make it more relevant to its contents.
In this edition most of the matter has been re-written and revised thoroughly especially history taking and clinical examination. A new chapter like sample history in each specialty has been added to help the new comer in the clinical science. Another addition to this edition is the flow chart, which will help a medical student to get a more scientific approach to reach the final diagnosis.
I pay my hearty feelings of appreciation to them who have advised me to reedit the book with the changes required. I am grateful to all the medical students and readers who appreciated the previous work. I also express my gratitude to Makalu Publication House (MPH), Printer and others who are connected for bringing out the second edition of the book.
Finally, I would generously appreciate and heartily accept healthy suggestions as well as constructive criticisms from the thoughtful readers for future editions and from this edition royalty of this book will be used in the treatment of poor patient.
Dr. Angel Magar
Kathmandu, Nepal
angel@xenomed.com
1st December, 2006
World AIDS Day
“Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise”