EMQs for Surgery. L. J. Fligelstone and A. H. Davies. Published by Tfm Publishing Ltd, Shrewsbury. Pp. 334. Price £25.00. ISBN 1-903378-15-X

Abstract

Fligelstone and Davies have constructed a text of extended matching questions (EMQs) for surgery. EMQs are increasingly used in assessments in the undergraduate curriculum and also in postgraduate examinations. Unlike traditional true/false multiple-choice questions this style of question is designed to reduce ‘strategic’ guesswork and recognizes that few situations in medicine are entirely true or false. In order to function well, extended matching questions should have as many options as possible which the student can select to answer a series of stem questions. EMQs can be used in all situations where multiple-choice questions have been utilized both for assessing basic factual knowledge as well as clinical understanding. In producing this book the publishers and editors have enlisted an exclusively UK authorship, predominantly based in Swansea. The book is aimed mainly at postgraduate surgical trainees although the editors point out that EMQs are increasingly utilized in the undergraduate curriculum. The questions are separated into chapters, some of which would be relevant to anaesthetists. These include chapters specifically addressing anaesthetics and intensive care and a number of relevant anatomical questions. However, the vast majority of the content is suitable for a postgraduate surgical readership. In this respect, trainees preparing for postgraduate surgical exams where EMQs are utilized may find the book useful, as there are few other alternatives. There are very few EMQs in this text which would be suitable for undergraduate medical students. Several of the EMQs in the text are poorly designed with an inadequate number of options or designed in such a way that the answer can be easily guessed even without prior knowledge of the correct response. The style varies considerably throughout the text and there are inconsistent numbers of options and stems. As is almost inevitable with any questions on clinical management, there are a number where there would be significant clinical disagreement suggesting that the questions have not been widely circulated for validation or trialled in real exams to obtain feedback on their performance. It is unlikely that many undergraduates or trainees in anaesthetics will find this book useful although postgraduate surgical trainees who have not come across this format before may find it to be of some value.