5th Edition. — Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2008.
As with the previous four editions, this fifth edition of The Washington Manual of Surgery is designed to complement The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics. Written by resident and faculty members of the Department of Surgery, it presents a brief, rational approach to the management of patients with surgical problems. The text is directed to the reader at the level of the second- or third-year surgical resident, although surgical and nonsurgical attendings, medical students, physician assistants, and others who provide care for patients with surgical problems will find it of interest and assistance. The book provides a succinct discussion of surgical diseases, with algorithms for addressing problems based on the opinions of the physician authors. Although multiple approaches may be reasonable for some clinical situations, this manual attempts to present a single, effective approach for each. We have limited coverage of diagnosis and therapy; this is not an exhaustive surgical reference. Coverage of pathophysiology, the history of surgery, and extensive reference lists have been excluded from most areas. This is the fifth edition of the manual; the first edition was published in 1996, followed by editions in 1999, 2002, and 2005. New to this volume is the incorporation of evidence-based medicine into each chapter. As with previous editions, this fifth edition includes updates on each topic as well as substantial new material.