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Basic Surgical Skills
Grading Key = outstanding; = good; = fair;
***** ***
Book Reviews
**** = excellent;
* = poor.
scientific, and managerial ideals in medical practice. The stories of doctors reflect the frustrations, sorrows, and joys experienced in practice and teaching; the problems of balancing family and career; and the valuable insights and energies to be found in relationships with patients. The stories of patients reveal a broad spectrum of patients' attitudes, feelings, needs, perceptions, and sensitivities that relate to pain, fear, loss, isolation, and the need for acknowledgment, recognition, and better communication. Strengths: The book's exceptional value is derived from good writing: the use of narrative to reveal important elements of experiential, ethical, and relational aspects of medical practice that cannot be expressed in logical, analytical discourse and philosophical grammar. Excellence is evident in "the sheer force of good writing .. . the clever use of humor . . . portrayal of ethical tensions .. . and skillful narration of extraordinary experience." Deficiencies: Although perceived deficiencies will depend on the expectations, attitudes, preoccupations, and values of individual readers, some goodness and valuable insight can be found in nearly every page. Recommended Readership: The book has universal appeal for any caregiver or patient who has ever felt the tension between humanistic, scientific, and managerial ideals. Many physicians who have read the pieces in the Annals are likely to enjoy them again in this compact collection. Overall Grading:
Basic Surgical Skills, by David A. Sherris and Eugene B. Kern, 152 pp, with ilIus, $39.95, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905, Mayo Clinic Scientific Press (telephone: 507-284-3335), 1999, ISBN 0-893005-51-8 Type ofBook: A practical manual (supplemented with a multimedia CD-ROM) written by 2 experienced facial plastic surgeons. Scope ofBook: The book provides an introduction to basic surgical skills and principles. . Contents: In the initial chapters, the authors describe the operating room environment and discuss wound healing, basic principles of surgery, local anesthetics, scrubbing, and surgical instruments. They then focus on surgical technique, including types of knots and suture methods, means for achieving hemostasis, and wound closures, from the most simple to complex skin flaps. Finally, they review the essentials of postoperative wound care. Oriented toward medical students, the book includes a summary set of quiz questions and a glossary of terms. The accompanying CD-ROM demonstrates the various procedures and techniques with clear video depictions . Strengths: This is absolutely the best book I have ever seen to introduce physicians to the basic environment of the operating room and to describe essential surgical techniques required of anyone performing surgical procedures. The graphics are clear and descriptive, and the CD-ROM is an excellent teaching tool. Deficiencies: The teaching format, by necessity, oversimplifies such technical issues as needle selection and suture types. The graphics in both the text and the CD-ROM are uniformly excellent, except for a number of poor-quality black-and-white photographs in the text. Recommended Readership: This text and CD-ROM would benefit medical students and surgical residents in the early years of training. Overall Grading:
*****
Martin A. Adson, MD, Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Mayo Medical School, Rochester, Minn
Chest Radiology: The Essentials, by Jannette Collins and Eric J. Stem, 284 pp, with iIIus, $79, Philadelphia, Pa, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (telephone: 800-638-3030), 1999, ISBN 0-78171582-2
*****
Wayne F. Larrabee, Jr, MD, MPH, The Larrabee Center for Facial Plastic Surgery, Seattle, Wash
Type of Book: A teaching text on chest radiology by 2 thoracic radiologists from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Washington. Scope ofBook: The book is based on material from a popular 16hour course on the basics of chest radiology given annually at the University of Wisconsin. The emphasis is on the chest radiograph, but chest computed tomographic images are used liberally for correlation. Contents: The text progresses from concepts of normal anatomy and signs in chest radiology to patterns of disease, including interstitial and alveolar lung disease, upper lung disease, peripheral lung disease, and pulmonary nodules. Atelectasis, airway disease, unilateral hyperlucent lung, mediastinal masses, and acute chest trauma all merit individual chapters. The chest wall, pleura, diaphragm, and neoplasms are also discussed. Topics that are not always included in books of this type include "tubes and lines," the immunocompromised patient, and congenital cardiac and lung disease. A self-assessment quiz at the end of the book is a worthwhile bonus.
On Being a Doctor 2: Voices of Physicians and Patients, edited by Michaefi\. LaCombe, 363 pp, $26, Independence Mall West, Sixth Street at Race, Philadelphia, PA 19106, American College of Physicians (telephone: 800-523-1546), 2000, ISBN 0-94312682-7 Type ofBook: A collection of essays, stories, and poems written by physicians and patients that were selected from those published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Scope of Book: To the experiences of physicians published over many years in the Annals sections On Being a Doctor and Ad Libitum have been added insightful contributions from patients (laypersons and doctors) in the section On Being a Patient. Contents: The most common central theme in this compilation is the need for and difficulty in effecting a balance of humanistic, Mayo Clin Proc. 2000;75:543-548
**
543
© 2000 Mayo Foundation fo r Medical Education and Research
For personal use. Mass reproduce only with permission from Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
***** ***
Book Reviews
**** = excellent;
* = poor.
scientific, and managerial ideals in medical practice. The stories of doctors reflect the frustrations, sorrows, and joys experienced in practice and teaching; the problems of balancing family and career; and the valuable insights and energies to be found in relationships with patients. The stories of patients reveal a broad spectrum of patients' attitudes, feelings, needs, perceptions, and sensitivities that relate to pain, fear, loss, isolation, and the need for acknowledgment, recognition, and better communication. Strengths: The book's exceptional value is derived from good writing: the use of narrative to reveal important elements of experiential, ethical, and relational aspects of medical practice that cannot be expressed in logical, analytical discourse and philosophical grammar. Excellence is evident in "the sheer force of good writing .. . the clever use of humor . . . portrayal of ethical tensions .. . and skillful narration of extraordinary experience." Deficiencies: Although perceived deficiencies will depend on the expectations, attitudes, preoccupations, and values of individual readers, some goodness and valuable insight can be found in nearly every page. Recommended Readership: The book has universal appeal for any caregiver or patient who has ever felt the tension between humanistic, scientific, and managerial ideals. Many physicians who have read the pieces in the Annals are likely to enjoy them again in this compact collection. Overall Grading:
Basic Surgical Skills, by David A. Sherris and Eugene B. Kern, 152 pp, with ilIus, $39.95, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905, Mayo Clinic Scientific Press (telephone: 507-284-3335), 1999, ISBN 0-893005-51-8 Type ofBook: A practical manual (supplemented with a multimedia CD-ROM) written by 2 experienced facial plastic surgeons. Scope ofBook: The book provides an introduction to basic surgical skills and principles. . Contents: In the initial chapters, the authors describe the operating room environment and discuss wound healing, basic principles of surgery, local anesthetics, scrubbing, and surgical instruments. They then focus on surgical technique, including types of knots and suture methods, means for achieving hemostasis, and wound closures, from the most simple to complex skin flaps. Finally, they review the essentials of postoperative wound care. Oriented toward medical students, the book includes a summary set of quiz questions and a glossary of terms. The accompanying CD-ROM demonstrates the various procedures and techniques with clear video depictions . Strengths: This is absolutely the best book I have ever seen to introduce physicians to the basic environment of the operating room and to describe essential surgical techniques required of anyone performing surgical procedures. The graphics are clear and descriptive, and the CD-ROM is an excellent teaching tool. Deficiencies: The teaching format, by necessity, oversimplifies such technical issues as needle selection and suture types. The graphics in both the text and the CD-ROM are uniformly excellent, except for a number of poor-quality black-and-white photographs in the text. Recommended Readership: This text and CD-ROM would benefit medical students and surgical residents in the early years of training. Overall Grading:
*****
Martin A. Adson, MD, Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Mayo Medical School, Rochester, Minn
Chest Radiology: The Essentials, by Jannette Collins and Eric J. Stem, 284 pp, with iIIus, $79, Philadelphia, Pa, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (telephone: 800-638-3030), 1999, ISBN 0-78171582-2
*****
Wayne F. Larrabee, Jr, MD, MPH, The Larrabee Center for Facial Plastic Surgery, Seattle, Wash
Type of Book: A teaching text on chest radiology by 2 thoracic radiologists from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Washington. Scope ofBook: The book is based on material from a popular 16hour course on the basics of chest radiology given annually at the University of Wisconsin. The emphasis is on the chest radiograph, but chest computed tomographic images are used liberally for correlation. Contents: The text progresses from concepts of normal anatomy and signs in chest radiology to patterns of disease, including interstitial and alveolar lung disease, upper lung disease, peripheral lung disease, and pulmonary nodules. Atelectasis, airway disease, unilateral hyperlucent lung, mediastinal masses, and acute chest trauma all merit individual chapters. The chest wall, pleura, diaphragm, and neoplasms are also discussed. Topics that are not always included in books of this type include "tubes and lines," the immunocompromised patient, and congenital cardiac and lung disease. A self-assessment quiz at the end of the book is a worthwhile bonus.
On Being a Doctor 2: Voices of Physicians and Patients, edited by Michaefi\. LaCombe, 363 pp, $26, Independence Mall West, Sixth Street at Race, Philadelphia, PA 19106, American College of Physicians (telephone: 800-523-1546), 2000, ISBN 0-94312682-7 Type ofBook: A collection of essays, stories, and poems written by physicians and patients that were selected from those published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Scope of Book: To the experiences of physicians published over many years in the Annals sections On Being a Doctor and Ad Libitum have been added insightful contributions from patients (laypersons and doctors) in the section On Being a Patient. Contents: The most common central theme in this compilation is the need for and difficulty in effecting a balance of humanistic, Mayo Clin Proc. 2000;75:543-548
**
543
© 2000 Mayo Foundation fo r Medical Education and Research
For personal use. Mass reproduce only with permission from Mayo Clinic Proceedings.