This small book should be excellent preparation for medical students undertaking examinations which are now mostly OSCE-based. This book is well laid out, with excellent use of contrasting colours for the different sections. From my own experience, all the major topics normally used in OSCEs are covered in excellent detail and presentation. The book is up to date, having been published for the 2009 market.
The book is well laid out in sections including General Skills, Cardiovascular and Respiratory Medicine, ENT, Opthalmology, Dermatology, Psychiatry, Orthopaedics, Obstetrics and much more. The section on communication skills, which are now so important and are a frequent content of the modern OSCE examination, is also well laid out and all the common topics are presented. The authors have included topics such as death certificate completion and data interpretation, so frequently asked.
However, the text is spoiled by major printing errors – after page 115, comes page 84 (duplicated from previously), then pages 118, 119, followed by page 88, then 122, 123, followed by 92, 93, then 126, 127, followed by 96, 97, and so on until page 146; there are many pages inserted out of sync which spoils the entire book. The publishers need to immediately withdraw this print run and correct. If it was not for this major, distracting printing error, this would be an excellent text. More minor critiques are that some photographs lack definition – Fig. 19, page 49, Fig. 38, page 112. On page 48, the addition of a diagram showing laparoscopic incisions would be helpful, e.g. laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
This potentially useful book is spoiled by printing errors. If the printing mistakes are corrected, the content is sound and it would be a useful little book for revision purposes in those anxious few days before the final MB OSCE examination.