Book Review

Representing one of the most challenging patient groups for paramedics, this pint-sized offering addresses minor trauma in children. The authors are all consultants in the field of emergency and children's medicine and far from over-complicating the subject, are successful in delivering a text which defies the nomenclature of ‘pocket guide’.

An impressive collection of material and resources has been compiled to cover a comprehensive list of minor injuries to children. One of the key features of this text is not just the physiological aspects of an injury, but when a clinician should refer a patient to more specialist care and what represent warning signs in this regard. In keeping with contemporary society, non-accidental injury and medico-legal issues are presented. This is not in any great depth, but enough to raise awareness and acknowledge additional challenges for clinicians.

To aid the clinician, the now customary array of X-rays, diagrams, photographs and scans have been assembled in the text, but where this earns its literary spurs is with the accompanying web resources. Publishers are increasingly using online resources to supplement the text, and this is a good example of how an accompanying website can provide the reader with additional material in the form of video content, images, a glossary, case studies and further web-based tools. When you consider the ever-expanding knowledge base in modern medicine, and the pace at which it is doing so, marrying printed publications with online material will become the standard. This publication is a good template.