the field are recently graduated fellows and junior clinicians hungry to establish
their own reputations in their communities. A common theme among all our
selected authors was that all were striving for excellence, and all are “practicing”
clinicians. A second look at the list also reveals the multidisciplinary nature of our
team with family physicians, internists, cardiologists, radiologists, orthopedic
surgeons, neurosurgeons, nutritionists, psychologists, physiologists, physiatrists,
allergists, therapists, and athletic trainers, among others all contributing.
Despite the charge of creating a concise book that included only “just the
facts,” we were overwhelmed by the quality, and faced the unenviable position
of editing a considerable amount of material. We tried to replace volume and
detail with concisely written tables and algorithms where applicable. A review
of any of the chapters will quickly bring the reader to the conclusion that this
text is much more than “just the facts.” We couldn’t be prouder of the final
product and certainly hope it meets the initial objectives we discussed for the
reader. We believe it does, as this book will be an excellent reference for review
and for clinical reference in patient care settings.
When we talked about dedicating the book we were all in agreement that this
text should be for those members of our family who have supported us through-
out the years; through the long days, the evening training rooms, the volunteer
community events, and the Friday nights and Saturday afternoons at local sport-
ing events. We especially want to thank our wives, Janet, Susan, Kathy, and
Linda and all our children, Ryan, Sean, Brendan, Lauren, Stephen, Ryan,
Caroline, Samantha, Matt, Shannon, Patrick, Matthew, and Danielle. We would
additionally like to thank Darlene Cook for her vision and support, and Michelle
Watt, our developmental editor at McGraw-Hill for keeping us on task.xx PREFACE