Emphasizes the fundamental skills physicians need to evaluate and communicate patient impairments. Standardized methodology is applied to each chapter to enhance the relevancy of impairment ratings, improve internal consistency and promote ease of application to the rating process. This ordered method enables busy physicians to become proficient with the ratings for multiple organ systems and anticipate how each chapter is organized and assimilates information.

The sixth edition applies both terminology from and an analytical framework based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), to generate five impairment classes which permit the rating of the patient from no impairment to most severe. A diagnosis-based grid has been developed for each organ system. The grid arranges commonly used ICD-9 diagnoses within the five classes of impairment severity, according to the consensus-based dominant criterion.

Functionally based histories, physical findings and broadly accepted objective clinical test results are integrated where applicable to help physicians determine the grade within the impairment class. The result is a decision that is both transparent and reproducible.

Contents: Conceptual foundations and philosophy -- Practical application of the guides -- Pain -- The cardiovascular system -- The respiratory system -- The digestive system -- The urinary and reproductive -- The skin -- The hematopoietic system -- The endocrine system -- Ear, nose, throat, and related -- The visual system -- The central and peripheral nervous -- Mental and behavioral disorders -- The upper extremities -- The lower extremities -- The spine.