Q: How long has The Washington Manual been in the market?
This is the 32nd edition of the Manual. It has been nationally distributed for over forty years, starting with the 16th Edition in the early 1960's. It has certainly changed in size and format over the years, but we are confident that it maintains the high standards of excellence and applicability set forth by its predecessors.

Q: To what do you attribute the longevity of this book?
While it is very difficult to speculate as to what makes a book popular and relevant after four decades of circulation, we believe there are several aspects of the Manual that have placed it in this privileged class of medical texts. Its continued mission of concise, portable, on-demand information has proven useful, not just to practitioners of Internal Medicine, but also to the wider audience of health care professionals, including students, nurses, and physicians and surgeons who practice in the various fields of medicine. Each of us has fond memories of reading The Washington Manual as medical students; it provided useful, current information that we used then, and continue to use today.

Q: How did it originate?
The history of The Washington Manual is a colorful one. It began in 1942 as an outline for a course targeted at fourth year medical students at Washington University. The course was taught by the chief residents, and the text was generated by Dr. Wayland Macfarlane. It was locally produced and published on 8.5 x 11 paper, to be used as a reference guide to inpatient medicine. (Interestingly, the content did not include tuberculosis or syphilis, as those conditions were treated elsewhere within the hospital system.)

The 16th Edition marked a radical change to the Manual, under the direction of Dr. Robert Packman and Dr. Russ Little. They altered the format from full-sized sheets to a pocket-sized handbook stressing need-to-know information. It was nationally distributed (but typed by Dr. Packman's mother!) with 4,000 copies made available. The 17th Edition marked the broader national launch, selling 25,000 copies nationwide for Little Brown Publishers. It was designed to have as much content as possible at a minimal cost to the reader. The publishing company has changed over the years (it is now with Lippincott Williams & Wilkins), but the mission remains the same: to provide a wealth of on-call information that is readily affordable and accessible to medical trainees.

Now the Manual is used worldwide, published in ten languages, and is a best-selling medical textbook in the world with hundreds of thousands of copies distributed globally.

Q: What is the life span from edition to edition?
The Manual is updated every three years by the internal medicine Chief Residents at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Q: Is The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics the book that started the noted Washington Series? Could you touch on the other titles you have in the various series (Survival Guides, Subspecialty Consults, other Washington Specialty titles)?
It serves as the standard-bearer for the rest of the series. The series includes specialty manuals of ambulatory therapeutics, oncology and cardiology, and survival guides in gastroenterology, nephrology, infectious diseases, endocrinology, and general medicine. An Internship Survival Guide has also proven very popular and was started as an offshoot of one of the previous Manuals. The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics is edited by the Chief Residents with authorship by faculty members; the subspecialty manuals are overseen by clinicians in their respective divisions who ensure that interested faculty members, fellows, and even residents author the chapters in their texts. We are particularly excited about the launch of a Manual of Critical Care that is currently being worked on by our faculty, fellows, and house staff.

Q: What can attribute to the overwhelming sales to the student and house staff market?
We recognize that time is tight on call; house staff and students need to know what they need to know quickly, and don't have time to run to the library. So, the Manual tries to get as much pertinent information as possible to fit in their pocket so they can carry it to the bedside. Furthermore, the content and format lend themselves well to an electronic/handheld medium which has proven very helpful. The legacy of the Manual as an on-call reference is recognized and trusted as a reliable source of high-quality information, with a cost that even a medical student can afford!

Q: What are the new features of the 32nd edition that will help to maintain the status of this best-selling medical text?
The format has been altered to be more outline structured, standardized, and reader friendly. Rather than scan paragraphs for key diagnostic tests or treatment components, we have delineated each into separate subheadings which are consistent across chapters and diagnoses. We feel that this change will be easier to read for specific bits of information and quicker to access.

Furthermore, we have taken pains to update the content to represent the most current and most pertinent data on the same wide variety of topics that we have always approached, and added some new ones. New topics include treatment of multidrug-resistant organisms, new targeted therapies for cancer, and the latest guidelines including JNC 7 (Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure).

Also, we have included full citations, so if readers want to go back to the primary literature they have easier access to the source the authors used.

Q: Could you sum up in a few brief sentences why every medical student, housestaff, and resident should have this book?
The Washington Manual has a tradition of excellence that is unparalleled. Look on your attendings' and senior residents' bookshelves and odds are, you'll see a well-loved copy of The Washington Manual from when they were interns. As time pressures continue to encroach on residency training, the need for portable, reliable, on-demand access to a wealth of medical knowledge will always be required. We feel that this edition capitalizes on the strengths of previous editions, while incorporating new features including, but not limited to, easier readability and more streamlined formatting to ensure that the answer you seek will be more quickly accessed.

Q: How does it feel to have been involved and completed your work on this gold standard text?
We felt it was a tremendous opportunity to ensure the success of the Manual by striving to keep it updated, and altering the format to make it even more accessible in an on-demand way. Though this edition has a lot to live up to, we certainly believe that the 32nd has all of the strengths of its predecessors. We hope that students and residents who use The Washington Manual come to feel as warmly as we do about it—like a trusted old friend.