Managing Minor Musculoskeletal Injuries and Conditions
Accepting that a significant proportion of paramedic practice is now dedicated to low-acuity medical conditions, this text immediately assumes relevance for a paramedic readership as it concerns the management of minor injuries. In truth, it appeals to a much wider audience ranging from medical students of any discipline to clinicians who already have some exposure to practice.
While the documented injuries and conditions may be classified as ‘minor’, the management of them is more complex and detailed than might originally be thought. The author deals with this effectively with a coherent structure to the book throughout. Common musculoskeletal conditions are well-documented along with the relevant anatomy and physiology. The customary inclusion of references has been enhanced by additional suggested reading and the use of multiple choice question tests at the end of each section provide the reader with an opportunity to reflect on their learning.
None of the above provides a unique selling point for this book, but what does distinguish this from the crowd is that the reader has been given access to a ‘companion website’. A hugely informative tool, it can be used as a supplement to the book itself or as a stand-alone resource. Easy to navigate and jam-packed with invaluable resources such as X-rays, PowerPoint presentations and case studies, as an online resource in itself it represents a veritable goldmine of material in this subject area. Clever use of e-learning, allowing for a far greater variety of learning resources to address the subject area than would be available in a conventional text.
Using both the book and website in tandem provides an engaging and informative experience for the reader. More importantly, the content is precisely the level at which paramedic practice should be shaped on. Achieving the balance between presenting complex clinical material in such an easily-digestible and creative manner, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion—recommended.