Reviews and Notes: Manual of Admitting Orders and Therapeutics

Manual of Admitting Orders and Therapeutics

Third edition. Eric B. Larson and W. Conrad Liles, Jr. 325 pages. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders; 1994. $23.95.

It is to be expected that a book with this title would be the right size to fit into the pocket of a white coat. This may be the reason that our increasingly sartorially casual house officers are still willing to wear white coats. "This manual represents an approach and a guide to medical order writing. Sample admitting orders for commonly encountered medical illnesses are included." Yes, it is a cookbook, but the logic behind each individual order is explained, giving the process of writing orders the possibility of being educational. This manual would, I believe, assuage the understandable nervousness of new clinical clerks and interns and would even reassure those who have been out of their residencies for a while. The authors are from the University of Washington, and there is a regional flavor to some of the "routine" orders, but then it is expected that none of the lists will be copied verbatim.