Book excerpt: This new edition is fully updated to address and include: significant changes in hospital environments, including managed care delivery methodologies, how Medicare and Medicaid work, and the role of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other ancillary hospital personnel patient screening recommendations from agencies such as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the American Cancer Society convenient lists of common drug reactions and commonly used alternative and complementary medicine treatment modalities expanded, commonly used medical abbreviations and acronyms. Students benefit from a convenient handbook that offers a crucial link between basic sciences years and the hospital experience, and are aided in achieving mastery of proper physical diagnosis and medical work-up for accurate diagnosis. Includes concise disease pathophysiology reviews.