Читать книгу Respiratory Medicine - Stephen J. Bourke - Страница 9

Respiratory Medicine: Lecture Notes was first published in 1975 by our predecessor and colleague, Dr Alistair Brewis, who sadly died in 2014. He was inspirational to generations of students and doctors. From its first edition, Respiratory Medicine: Lecture Notes was a classic textbook, opening the eyes of students to the special fascinations of the subject. Many were prompted to pursue a career in respiratory medicine. Subsequent editions mapped the developments in this very broad‐ranging specialty, dealing with diseases from cystic fibrosis to lung cancer, COPD to pneumonia, asthma to tuberculosis, sleep disorders to occupational lung diseases.

There have been truly remarkable advances in respiratory medicine over the last 7 years since the previous edition: immunotherapy for lung cancer, monoclonal antibodies for asthma, CFTR modulator therapy for cystic fibrosis and antifibrotic medications for pulmonary fibrosis. New challenges have arisen with a global pandemic of a novel coronavirus SARS‐CoV‐2.

As Respiratory Medicine: Lecture Notes moves towards its half‐century in this 10th edition, the text has been revised and expanded to provide a concise up‐to‐date summary of respiratory medicine for undergraduate students and junior doctors preparing for postgraduate examinations. A particular feature of respiratory medicine in recent years has been multidisciplinary teamwork, utilising skills from a variety of disciplines to provide the best care for patients with respiratory diseases. This book should be useful to colleagues such as physiotherapists, lung function physiologists and respiratory nurse specialists. The emphasis of the book has always been on practical information that is useful and relevant to everyday clinical medicine, and the 10th edition remains a patient‐based book to be read before and after visits to the wards and clinics where clinical medicine is learnt and practised. As Respiratory Medicine: Lecture Notes has developed over time, students have become teachers and continue to learn by teaching. Each successive generation adds to our understanding and builds on the knowledge of predecessors.

We remain grateful to our teachers and their teachers, and we pass on our evolving knowledge of respiratory medicine to our students and their students.

S.J. Bourke

G.P Burns

J.G. Macfarlane