Featuring a comprehensive, well-organized approach, this resource teaches assessment techniques from the most basic skills to more advanced methods for assessing patients in any clinical setting - from the office to the ICU. The new edition provides even more information on key topics, additional case studies and review materials, and a new glossary. Certain topic areas have been streamlined and reorganized for the most effective presentation of material.

• Comprehensive approach presents all of the most important aspects and topics of assessment that readers need to effectively assess patients.
• Each chapter begins with consistent learning features - Learning Objectives, Chapter Outline, Chapter Overview, and new Key Terms - to prepare readers for the content that will be discussed in that chapter.
• Simply Stated boxes contain brief, direct, concise statements about important concepts in the text, highlighting key information to aid in reader comprehension.
• Questions to Ask About... boxes contain a list of questions practitioners should ask patients about their symptoms or ask themselves when confronted with a certain clinical situation.
• Case studies in several chapters provide an opportunity for readers to apply chapter content to realistic clinical scenarios.
• Chapter review questions at the end of each chapter help readers review and remember chapter content.

1. Preparing for the Patient Encounter
2. Techniques of Interviewing
3. Cardiopulmonary Symptoms
4. Vital Signs
5. Fundamentals of Physical Examination
6. Clinical Laboratory Studies
7. Interpretation of Blood Gases
8. Pulmonary Function Studies
9. Clinical Application of the Chest Radiograph
10. Interpretation of the Electrocardiogram
11. Assessment of the Neonatal and Pediatric Patients
12. Assessment of the Geriatric Patient
13. Respiratory Monitoring in the ICU
14. Assessment of Cardiac Output
15. Assessment of Hemodynamic Pressures
16. Flexible Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy
17. Nutritional Assessment
18. Assessment of Sleep and Breathing
19. Assessment of the Home Care Patient
20. Documentation of the Patient Assessment
Glossary
Answers to Review Questions

By Robert L. Wilkins, PhD, RRT, FAARC, Chairman and Professor, Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, School of Allied Health Professions, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA; Richard L. Sheldon, MD, FACP, FCCP, Beaver Medical Clinic, Banning, CA; and Susan Jones Krider, RN, MS, Administrative Director, Loma Linda International Heart Institute, Loma Linda Medical Center, Loma Linda, CA