A textbook on clinical skills. It provides a source of learning and reference for undergraduate medical students and postgraduate doctors. It seeks to teach an integrated approach to clinical practice, so that new methods and investigations are grafted onto established patterns of clinical practice, rather than added on as something extra.

Hutchison’s Clinical Methods, first published more than a century ago, is the classic textbook on clinical skills. It provides an outstanding source of learning and reference for undergraduate medical students and postgraduate doctors. It seeks to teach an integrated approach to clinical practice, so that new methods and investigations are grafted onto established patterns of clinical practice, rather than added on as something extra. The text is organised so that both system-related and problem-oriented chapters are included. Particular emphasis is placed on the importance of the doctor-patient relationship, the essential skills needed for clinical examination, and for planning the appropriate choice of investigations in diagnosis and management. Hutchison’s Clinical Methods is an invaluable resource for all those learning and training in medicine and is an essential adjunct to a standard textbook of medicine, surgery or other specialty. The book provides a comprehensive account of the traditional methods of patient history-taking and examination but is updated with a full account of the role of modern investigative techniques. This is a book for students of all ages and all degrees of experience. This established textbook of clinical methods has been thoroughly reviewed by an international group of students and trainee doctors to ensure the text concentrates on the basic principles of history and examination in all the various clinical settings which medical students need to master. The global perspective of the book has been enhanced with a new International Advisory Board recruited from South Asia and the Middle East.

This second edition has been fully updated to provide undergraduates and trainees with the latest advances in clinical examination techniques and diagnosis. Divided into two sections, the first part discusses history taking, systemic symptoms and physical examination of external regions of the body such as the eyes, neck, ear and nose, scalp and skin, and breast. Section two covers systemic examination, describing techniques for investigating and diagnosing internal disorders. The new edition concludes with comprehensive appendices covering topics such as sample collection, chemical analysis of urine, and semen analysis, as well as providing various measurement scales. Key points Fully updated, new edition presenting latest advances in clinical examination techniques In depth coverage of both physical and systemic examination methods Highly illustrated with more than 1250 clinical photographs, diagrams and tables Previous edition published in 2009

The 21st edition of this textbook on clinical examination, first published in 1897, continues the tradition of combining the core knowledge of patient examination with the newer understanding brought about by modern techniques of investigation, history-taking and clinical examination.