Key Facts in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care

• Preface to second edition; Preface to third edition; Common abbreviations; Useful telephone numbers; 1. Normal values; 2. Resuscitation; 3. Anaesthetic information; 4. Paediatric anaesthetic information; 5. Intensive care information and data; 6. Classification systems; 7. National bodies in anaesthesia and specialist societies; 8. Bibliography.

This is a small book that is portable and could be slipped in ones pocket and used as a constant reference source. It is aimed primarily at junior medical staff working in anaesthesia and intensive care. However this does not mean that it is not appropriate or applicable to the nurse or practitioner working in these areas. It is packed with information used on a daily basis. The first section looks at the normal blood values and has useful calculated values. The next section is devoted to resuscitation of both the adult and the child. It not only looks at cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but fluid resuscitation the approach needed to the bleeding patient. Added to this Malignant Hyperthermia accidental intra-arterial injection and failed intubation are covered in an algorithmic format. The rest of the book looks at anaesthetic information such as endotracheal tube sizes, MAC values, drug dosages in adults and paediatrics, plus useful classification systems. I thought this was an excellent book to have as a reference to dip in and out. The information was easy to find and easy to understand. At GBP12.50 I think this is a bargain. Key Facts in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care is intended to be of interest to 'doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, and others'. It is truly a pocket-sized booklet, being only 4mm thick. Drs Park and Serrano have covered a wide range of topics in only 53 pages. However, this is at the expense of a small font size. The book is not indexed, but two comprehensive content pages at the beginning of the text list every subsection, which compensates for the lack of an index. The organization of the text is divided into the following sections: Normal values; Resuscitation; Anaesthetic information; Paediatric anaesthetic information; Intensive care information and data; and Classification systems. The presentation is clear and concise, with lots of flow charts, tables and bulleted points. The Normal values section consists of a table of normal ranges of commonly requested biochemical and haematological investigations (e.g. blood urea and electrolytes, full blood count, and arterial blood gases). Missing here are values for cardiac damage markers such as Troponin I or T, that are increasingly being requested. The Resuscitation and Intensive care section are the major emphasis of the book. The two sections cover 31 of the 53 pages. The topics covered include management of adult and paediatric cardiac arrest, shock, cardiac arrhythmias, acute renal failure, organ donation, and many more. On page 17, the authors have done a good job in simplifying a complex Difficult Airway Algorithm produced by the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Unfortunately, the flow chart suggests that in a difficult airway situation, you call for help only when you cannot maintain the airway or oxygenation with a bag and mask. In contrast, in the original algorithm, the decision to call for help should be made after the initial unsuccessful attempt at intubation. There is also an error in one of the limbs of this flow chart where the fail and succeed boxes are the wrong way around. Although.