Open Home Medical Guide and Say ‘Ahh’
Suddenly, your back hurts in a place you’ve never noticed. Or a strange rash on your neck draws you into that familiar dilemma: Do you spend time and money at the doctor’s office, or is this something you can fix yourself?
Home medical guides--those hefty bibles that clue you in on everything from diaper rash to schistosomiasis (a tropical parasitic disease)--might just hold the answer.
Many physicians see a role for such books; some even recommend specific titles. The key to their proper use, of course, is knowing when you need simple reassurance from a book and when you need professional medical care. In the future, thumbing through these guides might become passe, as more consumers turn to computerized versions.
The Survey: In a random polling of area physicians, the guides most often mentioned good sources of information were:
* “Take Care of Yourself” by Drs. Donald Vickery and James Fries. The fifth edition, published by Addison-Wesley, is $17.95 and includes easy-to-follow flow charts that help the reader decide when it’s time to call or visit the doctor.
* “Better Homes and Gardens’ New Family Medical Guide,” edited by Edwin Kiester Jr. and published by the Meredith Corp., sells for $19.95. Chapters are organized by organ (lungs, skin) and problems (arthritis and related disorders).
* “AMA Encyclopedia of Medicine,” published by the American Medical Assn. and Random House, sells for $44.95. Described as “an A-to-Z Reference Guide,” the 1,184-page book includes an index of commonly prescribed drugs and information on more than 5,000 medical terms and conditions.
For Young Patients: Families with young children might also want to consider a pediatric health guide. “Your Child’s Health” is recommended by Dr. Russell Spadaro, a Thousand Oaks pediatrician. Published by Bantam, the $16.95 book by Dr. Barton Schmitt lists emergencies first in alphabetical order and includes information on common newborn health problems.
Dr. Susan Keisner, a family practice physician with FHP Plaza Medical Center, Long Beach, recommends “Dr. Mom,” by Dr. Marianne Neifert. The $5.99 paperback, published by Signet, includes sections on normal development and care of sick children.
Also recommended: “”When Do I Call the Doctor?” by Los Angeles area pediatrician Loraine Stern, which promises speedy information for nervous parents. Published by Doubleday, the $12.50 book provides answers to “200 common and not so common childhood complaints in 60 seconds.”
How to Shop: “Look for something that is well-organized, by problem or symptom,” suggests Dr. Stephen Brunton, a physician on staff at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. “Look for a book that tells you when to relax and when to call the doctor,” he adds.
Brunton especially likes guides that advise readers what information the doctor will need during a telephone consultation. Taking body temperature is often overlooked, he finds.
“I’m amazed at the number of people who don’t even own a thermometer and who don’t expect that the doctor will ask the patient’s temperature,” Brunton says.
Look for books with preventive health and practical information, doctors suggest. For instance, Stern’s book includes a chapter on “How to Make the Best Use of the Telephone.” Like auto repair shops, she notes wryly, pediatricians’ offices can be busy on Monday mornings. So if parents can wait until a less frantic phone time, they might get more attention. Some books, including the Better Homes and Gardens’ guide, include timetables for checkups.
How-To: Use home guides to obtain basic information about common diseases such as chicken pox, colds and flu or to reinforce the information about a specific condition or treatment already discussed with the physician. “It’s amazing how much confidence is built by a doctor who says the same thing as the book,” Keisner says.
Caveats: Even so, Keisner adds, “I worry some of these books might cross the line and give people false reassurance that everything is OK. I have patients who will grab onto any excuse not to see the doctor.”
The Downside: Even very intelligent, well-read consumers can be steered awry by home medical books. One Los Angeles woman who normally doesn’t get headaches turned to her home medical guide when one struck. When she matched up her headache and other symptoms, she feared meningitis. The emergency room doctor diagnosed sinusitis.
The Future: Computer whizzes are already getting medical information (and viewing surgery) from their home PCs. Experts predict that the practice will become more common.
“Mayo Clinic Family Health Book CD-ROM,” released in 1992, is a computer medical guide included as a package on some CD-ROM equipped computers, says Karl Kortepeter, an account executive at Connecting Point computer store in Burbank. Besides basic information, there’s a bonus for strong-of-stomach viewers: they can watch surgery, including an animated arthroscopic knee operation.
The program has sold more than 250,000 copies, according to IVI Publishing, an electronic publisher offering the title in cooperation with Time Life. Another CD-ROM program includes information on heart health and yet another on pharmacy questions is due out in 1994.
