Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine, 5th Edition

BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEWS Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine, 5th Edition Review by Mark A. Graber, MD 0196-0644/$-see front matter Copyright © 2011 by the American College of Emergency Physicians

Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine, 5th Edition Hedges JR, Roberts JR Saunders, 2009 1416 pages, $207 ISBN-13: 978-1-4160-3623-4 ISBN-10: 1-4160-3623-7 Are you kidding me? A book on procedures in 2010? Books are so passé. After all, there is YouTube and the New England Journal of Medicine procedure videos (http:// www.nejm.org/multimedia/videosinclinicalmedicine). But wait . . . Roberts’ and Hedges’ Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine fifth edition remains a useful addition to any emergency department library. Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine is a concise, wellwritten textbook that goes beyond the Web in several ways and also incorporates its own Web-based content. So what is it that Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine adds that isn’t available free on the Web? First, authorities in the field of emergency medicine have vetted the information. This is not true of much of the procedure material available on the Web. Second, Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine excels at analysis: what procedure should be done and why. For example, the section on puncture wounds to the foot discusses indications for wound exploration, wound coring, etc, at different stages of presentation (day 1 of injury, day 3 post injury, etc). However, the advice to bury an 11 blade “to the hilt” (page 938) in the bottom of the foot to core out a puncture wound left me scratching my head. The book also covers a very wide range of procedures, not just those of glory that we revel in such as chest tubes and intubations. Ever wonder what to do when a feeding tube becomes dislodged and the ostomy site has contracted,

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precluding easy insertion of a replacement tube? You will find your answer here; there are no fewer than 20 pages on the insertion and care of feeding tubes. Want to know whether there is a bedside test to determine whether a mushroom is toxic or not? You will learn about the Meixner test on page 1,299. In actuality, the moniker Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine does not do this book justice. Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine is a full-fledged emergency medicine text that is complementary to the more traditional texts such as Tintinalli’s and Rosen’s. The breadth and depth of information are commendable. The book comes with access to a Web site. Here I found my main disappointment. One would hope that the Web site would include procedure videos and other multimedia content to complement the printed version. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Web site is unidimensional and only mirrors the content of the book in electronic form. Even links to public domain procedure videos would be welcome additions. But, alas, the information is static and I found myself preferring the textbook to the electronic edition, something I almost never find to be true. In conclusion, Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine is an excellent source of information not only about procedures but also of good, solid clinical information in emergency medicine. Do not let the lack of additional content on the Web site discourage you from purchasing this book. I highly recommend it. Mark A. Graber, MD Emergency and Family Medicine University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Iowa City, IA doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2010.08.042

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