Ovid: Women's Health
Welcome to the fifth edition of Women's Health. Rather than simply updating existing chapters we have tried to approach the subject matter afresh. To this end, there are many new authors giving new perspectives on subjects such as premenstrual syndrome, the menopause, urinary incontinence, breast disorders, sexual problems, and promoting the health of women. There are new chapters on vulval disorders, familial cancers, and domestic violence. The subject of cancer screening has been broadened to include cervical, breast, and ovarian screening, all of which are now brought together in a single chapter. All authors have been carefully chosen for their expertise in the field and continue to be GPs or to have an understanding of the particular needs of primary care. Certain elements from previous editions do not appear in this edition to keep the book to manageable size.
Just as space in the book is a problem for the editors, time limitation during the consultation is an issue for most women visiting their GPs. We have included examples of model ten-minute consultations throughout the book. The idea is to try and distil the salient points in the history and examination as well as the key issues to be discussed with the patient. Of course in practice we know that patients often come back for follow-up consultations and that there is no single right way of dealing with a problem. We hope that GPs will find the consultations helpful as a guide to how they might best use the time available when seeing patients.
Women health
