Simon Lammy

One of the biggest challenges as a neurosurgical trainee is to master the handover. This requires developing an organisational efficiency to concisely relay relevant patient information to a suitably qualified person to execute a given task. A trainee can work extremely hard during an on call, making suitable decisions, implementing previous plans to perfection and covering slack in a team. But if the presentation of this work is unclear then it undoes a lot of that hard work and generates an impression of a trainee being disorganised. Success in a handover requires an understanding of whom you are talking to, what you are saying, how you are saying it and if the way you are communicating gains and maintains interest. Above all a handover should ensure the smooth continuity of care of a patient.

This updated book continues the ABCDE chapter format from the second edition, incorporating an escalating level of diagnostic and management complexity and a concise bibliography in each chapter. It remains demarcated into two sections: the first (e.g. ABCDE chapters) equips surgical trainees in managing non-ICU-based patients, whilst the second provides a basic introduction to ICU care. The chapters introduce standard definitions, pathological processes, diagnostic features and common management plans. These are based on a range of updated recommended guidelines from NICE and SIGN and common ALS principles in critical care patients, as well as current ATLS® and CCrISP® standards. The most common causes of systemic complications in surgical patients are explained, e.g. updated sections on sepsis and major haemorrhage protocols, to name but a few. A must-have revision guide for all surgical trainees, from final-year medical students through to junior surgical registrars.