Book: Oxford Handbook of Medical Sciences

Edited by: Robert Wilkins, Simon Cross, Ian Megson, David Meredith

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Reviewer: Victoria Campbell (1^st year Medical Student)

The Oxford Handbook of Medical Science is one of many in a series of Oxford Handbooks.

This book concentrates on the basic medical science, knowledge that any medical student should have in order to be able to have a greater understanding of the workings of the human body. It is laid out in a very user friendly way starting with the general principles of cells and metabolism followed by individual chapters for the each of the body systems. In each of these chapters it goes through the anatomy, the function and briefly some of the general clinical problems associated with that system. Throughout the book it refers to another Oxford Handbook, The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine which will give you a more clinical description of the condition/disease but not necessarily the science behind it.

The text in this book is easy to read, using bullet points and tables. This makes it a useful aid when trying to figure out and/or remember the key points. To go deeper into the science you may need to supplement the book with one that goes into the pathways in more detail. Having said that, as I flicked through the book to different systems I was pleasantly surprised at the number of topics covered in each chapter and the detail it goes into.

There are greyscale diagrams throughout the book which are well executed and easy to follow. The front cover states that this book is ‘illustrated with clear diagrams and colour images.’ However, the only colour images are in the middle of the book, in the middle of the urinary systems chapter. The images do not relate to the urinary chapter and so would probably fit better within the text that they correspond to or at the back of the book.

Overall this is a worthwhile purchase for all pre-clinical medical students. It will not be one of those textbooks that stay on your bookshelf and rarely get looked at, it will be a textbook that you will carry around with you and use daily in all the modules that you study whilst at medical school.

Book: Medical Management & Therapeutics

Edited by: Parveen Kumar & Michael Clark

Publisher: Saunders Elsevier

Reviewer: John Williams (2^st year Medical Student)

“Kumar & Clark’s Clinical Medicine” is well known within the medical field for its extensive content and also the amount of space it takes on the book shelf! Fortunately the pair have come together again to produce this handbook.

Medical Management & Therapeutics, like many other medical texts, has chapters based on systems but focuses on the treatment and management in particular. The content is broad but very concise and is easy to follow which is particularly useful when you need to focus in on a specific disorder or treatment. The layout of the book makes it very easy to read, Kumar and Clark haven’t fallen into the temptation of using small text and no gaps to ram as much content in as possible! The text is a good size and the use of paragraphs, bullet points and spaces throughout stop you from getting stuck in pages of bulky text.

The extensive index and clear contents makes this book great for a quick reference tool which is what you want from a handbook. Throughout the book there are many tables and diagrams which provide an effective and easy to learn summary of some of the content. As a second year medical student I have found this book useful to keep sight on the clinical aspects of illnesses which will equip me for clinical placements. Its lightweight and small design will make this book a valuable resource on the wards. AND if that isn’t enough its extensive content and references to further reading material makes it a great text to study from.

Resource: Exam Consult Medical Finals (Online)

Edited by: Professor John Rees, Mr Christopher LH Chan, Dr Dan Horton-Szar, Dr Chris Kosky and Dr Anne Collett

Publisher: Saunders Elsevier

Reviewer: John Williams (2^st year Medical Student)

Exam Consult Medical Finals is an entirely online resource that provides an extensive and relevant bank of questions for medical students, especially in the build-up to their final exams. The website itself has a good layout and is very user friendly which makes it simple to navigate and create the test that you want. As all of the resource is stored online it means that you can access your tests and statistics where-ever you are and you can pause and resume tests at your leisure.

The questions are integrated and clinical which helps to reinforce knowledge learnt during a medical degree and gives a good basis for revision. Each of the answers also has an extensive and informative explanation so it not only tests your knowledge but is a useful learning tool. During the quiz you have the ability to mark/make notes on certain questions so that you can go back to them and there is an integrated calculator and lab values chart to help in some of the questions that require it. Test results and statistics are recorded and stored so that you can easily track your progress and identify areas of weakness.

As a second year medical student I have found this resource very useful for preparation of my upcoming exams (although some content is beyond my knowledge set) and am certain that it will be an invaluable resource during my final exams.