Anaesthesia Emergencies

Abstract

K. Ruskin & S. Rosenbaum ( eds ) Oxford University Press , January 2011 ISBN 978-0-19-53971-3 , 432 pp., Price £26.00 Anaesthesia Emergencies is one in a series of ‘emergencies’ handbooks from the American Oxford University Press. It aims to be a complete reference guide to the management of peri-operative emergencies and is sized to fit easily in your scrubs pocket. Initially produced for the American market, most of the text has been corrected for the British reader. However, the ASA difficult airway algorithm is on the inside cover and there are referrals to epinephrine and acetaminophen in the text. The legal references in the blood transfusion and organ donation summaries also refer to American law which renders them of little use to the practising UK anaesthetist. In a crowded ‘handbook’ market, this book’s main selling point is its comprehensive content. All the emergencies are covered in painstaking detail, with some journal references for background reading. By covering definitions, presentation, pathophysiology and differential diagnoses as well as the usual management, each section makes a perfect short answer question revision topic. The book opens with an interesting chapter about managing aviation emergencies using the principles of crew resource management, followed by chapters considering anaesthetic emergencies in broad strokes like ‘Airway’ and ‘Equipment’. Within these chapters, the emergencies are laid out alphabetically, so airway fires take a more prominent position than failed intubation, for example. You will find all the information you need to manage your emergency including drug doses and treatment regimens. There is a lot of information packed into a tight space: paediatric, obstetric and neurosurgical emergencies, amongst others. I found the immediate management boxes very helpful, as were some of the photos, including how to connect a cannula to a jet ventilator via a Luer connector. The advice was concise and ties in with the recommendations from other expert groups, e.g. the American Heart Association for managing tachy- and bradycardias. The content is comprehensive and extremely well organised, but the formatting makes it difficult to read in comparison with other handbook guides such as the unrelated Oxford Handbook of Anaesthesia. Although there are a few text boxes and photos to break it up, the repetitive pattern and lack of colour makes it a difficult book to follow. The addition of some coloured text boxes and diagrams would make it easier to find important information in the heat of an emergency. In summary, this handbook has some excellent content, but it is let down by its formatting from being a truly useful pocket guide.