On Call Principles and Protocols

Be on call with confidence! Successfully managing on-call situations requires a masterful combination of speed, skill, and knowledge. The pocket-sized titles in the On Call series provide you with immediate access to the vital, step-by-step information you need to rise to the occasion! When you're on call...alone...in the middle of the night...they're your answer books for what to do and how to do it quickly―from diagnosing a difficult or life-threatening situation to prescribing the right medication.

• Provides easy-to-reference, specialty-specific guidance on how to manage problems that arise while on call without direct supervision.
  
• Catalogs the calls you are most likely to receive and provides you with the questions you should ask to assess the urgency of each situation.
  
• Details the ideal approach to diagnose and manage patients, communicate with colleagues and families, and avoid common mistakes for every call.
  
• Reviews the temporary orders appropriate for each call, as well as the general protocol, and the major threats to life you must consider before arriving at bedside.
  
• Indexes problems by disease as well as by symptoms to expedite your access to the answers you need.
  
• Includes a comprehensive collection of differential diagnoses and a detailed formulary of commonly used medications―a quick, alphabetically arranged reference for indications, drug dosages, routes of administration, side effects, contraindications, and modes of action.

Shane A. Marshall, MD, FRCPC, Director of Cardiac Care, Chief of Medicine, King Edward VIIth Memorial Hospital, Paget, Bermuda; Formerly Chief Resident, Internal Medicine, St. Paul's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; and John Ruedy, MD, FRCPC, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Formerly Head, Department of Medicine, St. Paul's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada