The Hands-on Guide to Surgical Training

Reviews / Votes

For those considering surgical training, or for those alreadyprogressing through this, "The Hands-on Guide to SurgicalTraining" is a very readable 304-page guide to thenitty-gritty key points no-one ever tells you about. Comprehensive in its coverage, the text starts with anintroduction to the clinical side of surgery. Career structure,surgical equipment and sutures (with colour pictures) together withuseful advice on theatre etiquette all offer an excellentintroduction to those new to the operating theatre environment. Thethree most frequently encountered operations are reviewed,including operative photographs, and a guide to ward rounds andclinics provides a wealth of practical experience about what to doand when. The non-clinical chapters explain the different stages oftraining prior to entering core surgery, and each surgicalspecialty is then addressed in-depth including recruitment, examsand a trainee eye-view of what it is like to work in thespecialty. What really makes this book stand out is the useful traininginformation that all trainees want to know, but which is usuallyhard to come by and impossible to find in one place. Competitionratios for different surgical specialties, specific career advicefor women in surgery, an overview of the training bodies overseeingsurgery, the European Working Time Directive and pay-banding allstand out as very pertinent areas trainees should know about, butwhich are rarely often covered in similar textbooks. The pocket-size format of this book is perfect for carryingaround at work and the text contains bold highlights to pick outthe useful sections, although in some chapters this is perhaps alittle over-done. Overall, this book comes highly recommended as a unique resourcethat manages to combine key practical clinical information with thereally useful sort of training information that many will be keento read. (Ed Fitzgerald MRCS, Specialist Registrar, GeneralSurgery, The Royal Marsden Hospital, London)