Book Review
Anaesthesia and Emergency Situations: A Management Guide
Gajinder Oberoi
ISBN: 0-074707-67-1; 2000; 366 pages; McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing;
Toni Gwynn-Jones
CNS Anaesthetics, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney NSW
This Australian text is aimed at a wide target audience working in anaesthesia and encountering emergencies, but predominantly those in less-developed countries or areas with limited resources, outdated equipment, rudimentary drugs and health care workers with limited experience. Both the editors have trained as anaesthetists in large teaching university-affiliated hospitals and in Papua New Guinea where the resources are limited. They wanted to provide a text that would give those with little experience in anaesthesia and emergency medicine the necessary information to assist them in providing the appropriate treatment until more definitive care could be sought.
It appears that the editors have accomplished this goal. The textbook is easy to read, provides comprehensive and relevant information both the junior anaesthetist or anaesthesia nurse could utilise. The chapters are set up well, with bold headings and figures to illustrate a point. The information appears to be pertinent, but unfortunately there is no reference list or suggested further reading to enable the reader to gain further information.
The areas covered include pre-operative assessment and preparation, anaesthesia equipment, resuscitation, regional and general anaesthesia and topics covering emergency situations. The clinical case scenarios are useful because they assist the reader determine the risk factors for the situation provided and the recommended management plan.
The book concludes with appendices that cover a range of topics, including drugs used in anaesthesia and emergencies, useful tube sizes, lab values and major incident flowcharts. The section on strategies for equipment procurement would be useful in more remote areas.
Overall this book is a good beginning text and provides all the necessary information in an easy-to-read format. The only poor points are the lack of references, and the index could be formatted in a more easy-to-read fashion. It would be a useful Australian reference book for the beginning anaesthetist or anaesthesia nurse.
Highly recommended.
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