Thorough and relevant examination preparation is an essential prerequisite to a successful professional career. With the introduction of Modernising Medical Careers, the ability of the postgraduate doctor to navigate the appropriate examination pathway successfully at the first hurdle is even more important.
Get Through Accident and Emergency Medicine: MCQs will provide an excellent introduction to the examination technique necessary to pass the multiple choice component of the emergency medicine examination. The organisation of the book into several separate, but appropriate, sections (trauma, orthopaedics, medical, etc.) ensures that the student gains maximum benefit from the series of questions. The answers together with associated short commentaries are listed after each particular discipline's questions.
As an established emergency consultant involved in preparing colleagues for examinations, I found the questions to be unambiguous and relevant. They were sufficiently challenging to improve the candidate's knowledge base but pitched at a level commensurate with the standard expected in the multiple choice component of the examinations. This was indeed a view shared by a number of junior colleagues who also gave their opinion on the publication and its quality and usefulness, also demonstrated by the queue of prospective emergency clinicians who wanted to borrow the book to assist in their own preparation.
I was also impressed that the book provided some pertinent revision tips and sensible advice with respect to multiple choice questions, the examination formats and techniques with respect to emergency medicine. My only recommendation is that perhaps a future edition may incorporate slightly longer commentaries to support the answers. However, this does not detract from my opinion that this book will be invaluable to any candidate preparing for postgraduate emergency examinations and should be an integral part of any colleague's preparation for these.