The Hands-on Guide for Junior Doctors, 4th Edition: 9 (Hands-on Guides)

Excellent book

Bought for grandson so cannot really comment!

Its an ok general guide to being a doctor, however if you've ever spent time on the wards you will know 95% of this stuff anyay!

I received this title whilst a medical student to review for the publisher and complete this review now as a junior doctor.If you are about to become a junior doctor (as I was 7 months ago) and are looking for a title that has much advice for you on how to approach many of the commonest situations that you will encounter, both clinical and non-clinical then this title would be well worth using. It goes through non-clinical topics such as making your own clipboard which many like to have and what this should include in it, how hospital IT systems often work, completing death certificates & crem forms, the portfolio and a list of some of the commonest calls. I know that one of the medical defence unions offers this title for free if you join them, a bargain really when you consider the cost of the title is more than the cost of FY1 membership.In conclusion if you are able to get this title for free from joining a medical defence union for FY1 then do so, if you have to pay for it, I would say that if you are looking for more reassurance about being an FY1 then you should have a read through this title for yourself.Competing Interests: Junior Doctor Book Reviewer - I received this title for free from the publisher whilst a Medical Student in order to review

This compact book covers all the practical advice a junior doctor needs to ensure survival on the wards. It starts with the ever-vital details of paperwork and medical records - crem forms, sick-notes and the like - before covering the basics of clinical presentations, procedures, and finishing with a very human chapter on how not to go insane!It does all this in a concise and no-nonsense way - perfect when time is limited and you're about to start that new job. Its strength is not only in focussing on the practicalities of the job, but also on taking a different angle to the  Oxford Handbook for the Foundation Programme (Oxford Medical Handbooks) . `Hands-on' is much more about everyday survival and overarching clinical presentations than the Oxford Handbook's focus on specific case-management. The two therefore complement rather than compete with each other.In summary, the hand-on guide is a great little book: well aimed, relevant, and well worth reading before work on the wards begins.

I'm absolutely shocked; I like the text itself (I have the hard-copy version); it's well laid out and provides concise and useful information for final-year med students preparing for their first jobs in medicine, but the formatting of the kindle edition (on iPad) is absolutely atrocious! It is as if someone has just scanned in the paper version! In fact there are spelling mistakes which look like the sort of OCR problems which occur when you scan a document and certain words aren't recognised by the software. The indexing is sloppy, with many misplaced links and the navigation through the text is sluggish. I am utterly disappointed. The quality of this text is far worse than that of the free texts available via kindle.

In my first 6 months as an FY1, I would say that I used this handbook almost every day!Brilliant practical advice covering all the day-to-day aspects of medicine on the wards. The important stuff that wasn't in the exams but poses daily questions on the job.Our consultant bought a copy for the ward!

The book is superb for the first 3-6 months of Foundation Year 1. Full of handy hints on what they don't teach you at medical school! Everything from how to get blood stains out of your clothes to preparing for and doing practical procedures.