Second Edition Published 2015
Rowan Hillson
Published by Oxford University Press
ISBN 978-0-19-870563-5
Price £27.99
http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198705635.do
Reassuringly, when I took this book in my hand it felt like a handbook – this is not a redundant tautology but an often overlooked prerequisite for this genre. I will take this manual with me as a habitual prop. It fits comfortably in the pocket. The information flows intuitively – the chapters, sections, subsections, succinct tables and chapter summaries are of a perfect size for a handbook / manual. All books can be interrogated via Contents or Index, but when you arrive at a given topic does it answer your query in one or two small pages? – probably not – but this book does! Be it signs and symptoms, investigations, diagnosis, or treatment, they are all dealt with in a practical way. This is a user-guide for healthcare professionals of all complexions who are treating a growing number of patients with diabetes. It is a singular achievement to produce a handbook that caters for all audiences. Diabetic nurses will find it an essential resource. It will enable interested patients to better understand their condition and treatment, along with the role of healthcare professionals in their care. Physicians will find within a concise presentation of diagnostic and therapeutic parameters, goals and outcomes, both for the disease process itself and of its sequelae. For all it will provide a handy and continual perspective of where their particular care paradigms, both global and local, sit in the panoply of diabetes pathology and treatment, which is the basis of the interplay between patient and care giver.
Jim Young
November 2015