Current Pediatrics Practice Series 1

Each day child-health professionals are presented with varieties of literature ranging from scientific journals and academic books, to glossy commercial literature and articles in the lay press. In such a milieu, what can this volume on Current Pediatrics Practice offer? This Volume is neither a textbook nor a refresher course, although it will serve these purposes well. This Volume has been prepared with a careful consideration of current issues and challenges in Pediatric practice. The vision behind this work is to extend the experience and expertise of the Faculty in the Advanced Pediatrics Centre, to a wider audience. Therefore readers will come across many topics that seem very familiar and perhaps common-place. Typical examples include chapters on Iron deficiency anemia, Acute CNS infectious, Office management of bronchial asthma, Childhood neurocysticercosis, Guidelines to manage malaria, and Approach to children with wheezing. These chapters not only provide an up-to-date review of the current state of knowledge, but also present the evidence base for current practice, whilst also exposing readers to the institutional experience in these areas. Readers will also be pleased to note that the sixteen chapters cover a wide range of Pediatric topics including among others Pediatric Neurology, Pulmonology, Infectious Diseases, Hematology and Neonatology. We are also pleased that not less than four chapters deal specifically with ‘rational’ approaches to various issues confronting Pediatricians today. This is one of the core strengths of this book as the various authors (who are eminent experts in their field) have tried to convert their experience and expertise, into concise, easy-to-follow, practical algorithms that can be applied in academic centres as well as private practice. In addition, there are concise chapters on some topics that although encountered less frequently, can still be a challenge to diagnose and treat. These include chronic arthritis, non-nutritional rickets, and conditions that mimic seizures. Finally, we are happy to be able to include relatively current issues that challenge Pediatricians, notably the management of scrub typhus (that was witnessed in greater than usual numbers in this part of the country in recent months) and vitamin D deficiency (that is increasingly being linked to a variety of clinical conditions). We hope that readers will enjoy reading this Volume, and also benefit from it in their personal practice; thereby contributing to better child-health services in the country.