A comprehensive study guide
8th Edition (Published October 2015)
Judith Tintinalli, Editor in Chief
ISBN 978-0-07-179476-3
Price £188.99
Picking up the book (be warned it is heavy and substantial) and looking at the front cover, the subtitle, says it is “a comprehensive study guide”. To some people this may conjure up an image of say an “A” Level study guide, a slim volume summarising the main points to help the student pass the exam well. In fact, this excellent book is the complete opposite; it seems to be a stunning and comprehensive review of a discipline which has a very diverse subject area. In fact, if you turn over to the back of the book (it is not a slim study guide but a weighty tome), the top of the back cover proudly proclaims “The most widely used and highly regarded textbook and reference of Emergency Medicine.” Furthermore, just below this, it states that it is “Endorsed by the American College of Emergency Physicians”. So what lies between the 2 covers which comprises of just over 2100 pages to justify these impressive statements?
Although I am not an emergency physician, I am GP that sometimes has to deal with emergency situations, to me this book is truly superb. For such a diverse discipline, it appears to be a one-stop shop that seems to covers most events. Sure it may be caught out at some point but as a single reference source, it appears to be excellent.
It is primarily an American textbook but I am sure, there is much to commend it for a UK and for that matter, a global audience. It is well written and appears authoritative and commanding about its topic. There is terrific detail here but it is clinically focussed and will often help a healthcare professional dealing with a patient in a topic that they may not be 100% familiar with. Even if think you know a lot about a specific topic, there is always more to learn from this single but thick volume.
There is a good sprinkling of tables and illustrations but it is packed with text which is well written by a significant number of contributors. I would say this is truly an outstanding textbook which could easily assist a healthcare professional working in an emergency situation, either in an emergency room or even in the community. It is large and certainly not portable and there is no digital version bundled with this price.
Yes, the purchase of the book requires a fair investment but this is a quality product that not surprisingly comes at a significant price. Even so, I would hope that every Emergency Department has access to this book as I am sure it would receive extensive use. It was a pleasure to review a book that certainly reaches high levels of excellence for the quality of knowledge and excellent production values it possesses.
Dr Harry Brown
August 2016
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