Blackwell’s Primary Care Essentials: The Complete Guide. Fourth edition. And Guidelines for Electronic. By Daniel K. Onion. 882 pp. Malden, Mass, Blackwell, 2003. $42.95 (paper). ISBN 0-632-04633–3

Pocket-sized primary care reference books have long been a source of clinical information to the medical student, resident physician, and practicing clinician. With the increasing popularity of personal digital assistants (PDAs), the electronic versions of these resources allow for efficient retrieval. Blackwell’s Primary Care Essentials, published in both a paper and electronic format, is in its fourth edition and written nearly exclusively by Dr. Onion. The electronic version retains the original title of The Little Black Book for Primary Care, available for both the Palm and Windows CE operating systems.

The 880-page paper publication is presented as a ready source of common primary care information to the student, resident, and clinician. An intended purpose, stated in the preface, is to serve the student and resident as a starter notebook, and it does provide solid, basic information on the common conditions seen in general practice.

I liked the evidenced-based format, with ready references within the text of the clinical topic. Unfortunately, the references are contemporary only until 2001, and some were more than 20 years old. Although organization is user friendly, I found the text often too cryptic in the author’s attempt to reduce the book’s size to keep it portable. The book is still a bit bulky (5×7×1.5 inches) to be truly portable.

The electronic version, The Little Black Book, is worthy of consideration as an addition to a PDA. I loaded a full version on my Compaq IPAQ (Windows CE version) and found the information to retrieve and the organization intuitive.

I recommend Blackwell’s Primary Care Essentials as a sound choice for a portable reference for the general content of family practice. The electronic version is the most portable and is my preference for those students, residents, and practicing clinicians seeking a ready source of clinical information.