Emergency Medicine Australasia (2004) 16, 174–176

Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.Book Reviews

Book ReviewsBook ReviewsBook ReviewsTrauma Secrets 2nd edition

Gideon P Naudé, Frederic S Bongard and Demetrios Demetriades, Hanley and Belfus Philadelphia, 2003, 306 pages, soft cover, RRP $A99.09, ISBN 15605 3506 7. Distributed by Elsevier Australia, telephone: + 61 2 9517 8999 or 1800 263951 or website: www.elsevier.com.au

The Secret Series seems to be very specificallytargeted for a North American readership. As statedon the back cover ‘valuable information you need forsurvival and success on teaching rounds, in clinicalsituations, at the bedside, and on oral exams’.

I suspect it has very limited application in theAustralasian system.

The format, although grouped loosely into sections,is one of unlinked specific items of information. AllI have asked about this series agree it is not contin-uously readable any more than reading a book only oflimericks, sayings or jokes.

The authorship is mostly trauma surgeons fromthe USA. Thus in spite of 3/56 authors being qualifiedAmerican emergency physicians, it is very surgical.

Unfortunately the book’s information is frequentlyout of date, especially lacking detail of moderntreatment options and diagnostic methods.

This is underscored by the majority of references,other than the occasional textbook, being some 10years old or more.

Some examples are:• There is no real mention of magnetic resonance

even in the spinal sections.• Ultrasound — FAST, bedside is not dealt with at all

commensurate with current widespread practice.Several key topics are poorly dealt with:

• DVT — no mention of D-Dimers or any diagnosticalgorithm.

• Cervical vascular injuries — there is no mention ofCT angiograms.

• Brain injury section is wanting.Although it certainly contains some very good

information and pearls, I could not see its niche forour clinical reference resource.

Gordian Fulde, MBBS, FRACS, FRCS (Ed),FRCS/RCP (A & E) Ed, FACEM

Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine Director, Emergency Department

St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Book Revie

Emergency Medicine Pearls 1st editionJM Baren, and ER Alpen, Hanley and Belfus, Philadelphia, 2004, 272 pages, soft cover, RRP $A86.00, ISBN 156053 575 X. Distributed by Elsevier Australia, telephone: + 61 29517 8999 or 1800 263951 or website: www.elsevier.com.au

The Pearl Series of medical texts presents its informa-tion in a problem orientated case based approach.A general format of history, physical examination,relevant lab investigations with a number of diagnostic,management and disposition questions accompanieseach case. A brief general discourse and a diagnosisand management discussion follows. Each caseconcludes with three or four ‘Clinical Pearls.’

‘Dancing eyes, dancing feet’ syndrome, or morecorrectly opsoclonus-myoclonus (OM), receives aguernsey in this collection of 87 cases collated by anemergency physician and a paediatrician under theguise of emergency medicine pearls. However, esotericdiagnoses and syndromes such as this are kept toa minimum and generally the cases presented arestraightforward and uncomplicated, including suchproblems as acute shortness of breath, testicular torsion,ectopic pregnancy and blunt abdominal trauma.

A large percentage of the contributing authorsare paediatric emergency physicians, reflected in thehigher than usual volume of paediatric cases presentedin this book, a category of patient ignored or under-represented in most general emergency medicine texts.

Cases are accompanied by photographs, X-rays orECGs. It is these aspects that often let the book down.Cyanosis and rashes are impossible to make out inblack and white photos, pictures of X-rays aren’t largeenough or detailed enough to see what they purport toshow and there are several instances of mislabelling,for example, X-ray of dislocated shoulder showing an

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enlocated shoulder, a case regarding a listless youngboy with a photo of a young girl. Abbreviations arecommon in the text and while most of them are self-explanatory and probably very obvious to those whohave practised in an American environment, others areless so and with no accompanying glossary of termsprove a little frustrating.

This book did prove useful in a teaching session,where at short notice a number of Fellowship exam-ination type SCEs could be constructed from some ofthe cases it contained. It is in this area that EmergencyMedicine Pearls may be most useful, as a study aidfor trainees about to undergo their Fellowship examand looking for practice essay, VAQ and SCE typequestions to rehearse. It may also be useful for thosetrainees looking for commonsense advice early intheir clinical and training career. However for $86.00,Fellows looking for clinical gems would be betterserved elsewhere.

Stefan M Mazur, BPhED, MB ChB, FACEMRoyal Perth HospitalPerth, WA, Australia

April 2004162Book ReviewBook ReviewsBook ReviewsBook Review

The Emergency Medicine Manual 3rd editionRobert Dunn, Stuart Dilley, Jennifer Brookes, Deborah Leach, Andrew Maclean, Ian Rogers, Venom Publishing, Adelaide, 2003, 915 pages, hard cover, RRP $A215.00, ISBN 0957812124. Available by mail order directly from Venom Publishing, 19A Seaview Road, Tennyson SA 5022 or website: www.venompublishing.com or Email: venompublishing@bigpond.com or from major medical bookshops.

Having only briefly glanced at the previous editionsfor occasional reference, reviewing the third editionin detail was quite an experience! There is 30% moreinformation than the previous edition resulting inseemingly millions of dot-pointed facts, all neatlyorganized by the experienced and well-regarded authors.

More than just clinically focused, there aresurprising but necessary chapters describing accessblock, clinical decision making, medical education,clinical indicators, rostering and staffing. Contemporarytopics such as SARS and chemical and biologicalweapons are discussed.

There are omissions (e.g. some orthopaedic injuries),some common problems are dealt with too briefly(e.g. opioid overdose management consists solely ofbag mask ventilation, administration of antagonistand treating complications, with no mention of otherimportant practical issues), and some algorithms canbe argued. However, the author’s preface emphasizesthe role of illustrating factors important in decisionmaking, rather than making the decision. This is auniversal problem in textbooks which often giveknowledge but no idea of how to apply it. There is anattempt in this manual to address this by having someevaluation of the facts.

Most sections have important but not exhaustivereferences, some of which are very recent, althoughsome reference lists are not numbered and incomplete.The style is occasionally very colloquial with an indis-putable Australian flavour and focus on the Fellowshipcurriculum. This may restrict its international appealbut enhances its local use.

The new edition is available in hard cover singlevolume and cheaper soft cover double volume. Despitethe improvement in quality, there are still numeroustypographical errors (due to rapid publication turn-around time), and poor reproduction of pictures(to keep costs minimal). These criticisms are not adetraction from the usefulness of this book, but may begoals for improvement for the next hardcover edition.I will wait for it expectantly, to see what otherinteresting sections they can think of!

Tony Celenza, MBBS, MClinEd, FACEM, FFAEMSenior Lecturer in Emergency Medicine

University of Western Australia Nedlands, WA, Australia

April 2004162Book ReviewBook ReviewsBook ReviewsBook Review

Procedures and Techniques in Intensive Care Medicine 3rd editionRichard S Irwin, James M Rippe, Frederick J Curley, Stephen O Heard, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2003, 320 pages, soft cover, RRP $A129.80, ISBN 07817 4334 6. Available from Lippincott-Williams & Wilkins, Sydney, telephone: + 61 2 9212 5955 or website: www.l-ww.com.au

The perceptive reader will discover early in thisbook that inadvertent intrathecal insertion hasbeen reported as a complication of pulmonary artery

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catheter insertion. This was surely tremendous badluck, yet there is no doubt that these catheters can befiercely independent. I have sometimes found prayerhelpful in ensuring they follow the correct course — atother times invective. Regardless, I have added thissmall snippet to the armamentarium I use to supportmy stance that there are now few reasons to performthis procedure. But I digress.

Procedures and Techniques in Intensive Care Medi-cine is essentially the first chapter of the fifth edition ofIrwin and Rippe’s Intensive Care Medicine. It is printedas a separate smaller text to enable it to be moreportable and to target the widest possible audience.The authors are exclusively from the USA, with manyfrom Worcester in Massachusetts. It is pleasing tonote that despite the hulking growth of the parenttextbook, the text of this edition is shorter than that ofthe first. This has not been at the expense of content,with all chapters revised and updated. Each coversthe fundamentals of the procedure, the equipmentused, indications and contraindications, complications,

and interpretation of data generated. An impressivelist of references completes each chapter. For example,‘Routine Monitoring of Critically Ill Patients’ is sup-ported by 246 references.

Apart from the esoterica, highlights for me werethe sections on routine monitoring of critically illpatients and echocardiography. Some sections are lessrelevant for emergency physicians and trainees notpractising outside of the ED, such as extracorporealand intracorporeal support technologies, endoscopicplacement of feeding tubes and indirect calorimetry.

This is an excellent procedural book, especially forthose practising in, or rotating through, the intensivecare unit. Even for those whose practice is entirelywithin the ED, there is much to recommend.

Craig Hore, MBBS, FACEMDirector of Critical Care

Port Macquarie Base Hospital Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia