100 Cases in Acute Medicine
This book sees a return to the tried and tested format of case studies as a medium for learning, so is surely a safe ground for the authors and publisher alike?
A healthy breadth of case subjects are presented ranging from cardiac to respiratory pathologies, neurological, gastric, metabolic and gastric illnesses too. Mental health and obstetric scenarios also make their way into the content. Some of the cases presented will inevitably find themselves outside of the scope of practice for many paramedics, but these should be looked upon as an opportunity to develop a knowledge base, rather than as an irrelevance.
My reservations with this text do not lie in the type of case studies, nor indeed the experience or expertise of those who have written them. All the boxes ticked there. It is the lack of detail in each case presentation which left me wanting more information on patient history, presentation and examination. In the majority of case studies, all of this is condensed into less than one side of a page and even where additional material in the form of ECG tracings and X-rays is included, it still feels a little thin on the ground to permit a full consideration of what is happening with each patient.
Each case is immediately followed by an ‘answer’, which provides the reader with a more comprehensive appraisal of each patient. Yet as any paramedic will know, the most important part of patient management lies in the history taking, so I would like to have seen a bit more substance in the case presentation to marry up with the differential diagnosis.
No doubt this will find favour among those looking for a quick revision/study aide. It certainly has a role to play in that regard. But for those paramedics accustomed to undertaking a more detailed critical and in-depth analysis of clinical presentations, wider reading will be required.