Book Review

The development of the paramedic profession in Australia has rightly received international recognition in recent years. Yet despite this book's origins it is unlikely to achieve similar acclaim. Described as a ‘practical guide’ with clear clinical guidelines covering 50 common medical emergencie I would have to say that the content fails to adequately address either.

A wide range of clinical skills and medical conditions are documented but these amount to little more than an identification of potential medical emergencies that a medical student could be exposed to. With clinical interventions ranging from arterial punctures to blood gas sampling and lumbar punctures, paramedic students are not principally catered for.

It is not difficult to identify the Antipodean influence, with blue-ringed octopus envenomation and redback spider bites among the content. A far more pertinent observation would be the obvious absence of any detailed clinical guidelines. Perhaps less of an issue in relation to paramedic practice these days, but with a distinct absence of underlying A & P, it does nothing to develop a reader's underpinning knowledge and that all-important clinical reasoning.