DeGowin’s Diagnostic Examination, Eleventh Edition, the newest in a series of updates of the classical clinical manual, will hit the market this Friday. At one time, this well-known text was required reading in nearly every medical school in North America. It was conceived and first penned by Elmer DeGowin, MD, a member of the department’s faculty from 1932 to 1969. Known for his pioneering work on blood storage and for setting the stage for modern blood banking, Elmer DeGowin brought physical

diagnosis to UI sophomore medical students for two decades. His text grew out of his legendary teaching methods and in 1965 was first published by Macmillan. His son, Richard DeGowin, joined him as an editor for the  second and third editions and assumed full responsibility in 1980 following his father’s death.

For more than fifty years, it has remained one of the single-best guides for learning how to become a master clinical diagnostician. Subsequent version over the decades have seen additions, updates, and edits from Don Brown, MD; Richard LeBlond, MD; Manish Suneja, MD; and Joseph Szot, MD. A year after their publication of the tenth edition, Suneja and Szot introduced DeGowin’s Diagnostic Examination Flashcards.

The eleventh edition, again edited by Suneja, Szot, LeBlond, and Brown, will continue to aid medical students, residents, physicians, and other healthcare providers in their day-to-day practices. “Our goal was once again to preserve the unique strengths of previous editions, which was to encourage a thoughtful systematic approach to diagnosis based on history and physical examination,” Suneja said.

“When we began this edition, we felt it was very important to continue the forte of previous editions. Clinical vignettes are a great addition to the eleventh edition. These allow for the application and practice of diagnostic reasoning skills that the book emphasizes throughout and will also enhance knowledge retention,” Szot said.

Much more than a text describing how to perform a history and physical examination, DeGowin’s Diagnostic Examination is unmatched in its ability to help learners logically assess symptoms and physical signs to facilitate development of reasonable, testable diagnostic hypotheses. “In this edition, we have added recent information, improved clarity, reduced redundancy, all of which helps facilitate development and implementation of diagnostic strategies using memory schemes that represent and interrelate clinical problems,” Suneja said.