The Oxford Handbooks of Emergency Medicine (4^th edition) and Oxford Handbook of Acute Medicine Pack (3^rd edition)

Jonathan Wyatt, Robin Illingworth, Colin Graham, Kerstin Hogg (Emergency Medicine) and Punit Ramrakha, Kevin Moore, and Amir Sam (Acute Medicine)

Published by Oxford University Press

ISBN 9780198784302

Price £49.99

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/oxford-handbook-of-emergency-medicine-and-oxford-handbook-of-acute-medicine-pack-9780198784302

Without doubt the Oxford Medical Handbooks are up there as world class books, helping patient facing healthcare professionals solve everyday problems. These books are well recognised amongst both junior and senior doctors for example, as being practical and fact packed, yet portable and very helpful. So now the publisher has recognised that some titles have overlap and bundling them together makes sense. In this case, the bundle covers acute and emergency medicine. Sensibly both original titles remain intact, there has been no change to the physical books which retain their heritage and can be purchased independently if needed. Physically combining these 2 separate units into one book though would be useful but would probably destroy their portability and turn them into a large volume which may be harder to use.

Okay it is a good marketing tool (and good value for money) but what about the books themselves? Of course they retain the highly valued heritage of the series. Both books are of comparable size and shape and broadly similar in dimensions to other books in the series and of course they have the excellent protective vinyl covers. But it is the contents of the books that count and not surprisingly, they are superb. The emergency medicine book covers everyday work in an emergency department. As well all know, clinical work in an emergency department can be hugely varied and sometimes overwhelming in the sheer number of presentations –especially for a newly qualified doctor. So step forwards this excellent book which covers an amazing number of scenarios within a very compact 749 pages. I would imagine this would be an excellent companion to a large number of emergency department clinical staff.

Really the same can be said for the acute medicine book; it is very clinically focused and very helpful in managing acute medical problems. Again there is an impressive array of subject matter presented in a user friendly manner. Both books are interesting to read and yet remain an excellent support to clinical staff in an acute setting.

Cost wise the emergency medicine is £34.99 and the acute medicine book is £32.99 (both prices are based on the publisher’s website at the time of writing this review) so the combined set represents good very good value for money, if both books are of interest to you.

The oxford handbooks deserve the acclaim they achieve and these two books continue that tradition. In fact, that came as no surprise to me but having two of them covering a common topic area at a very keen price, is very useful to know.

Dr Harry Brown

July 2016