Book Reviews
Pediatric Emergency Medicine Secrets
Review by Paula y. Whiteman, MD
Handbook of Medical Photography
Review by William Birdsong, MD
Copyright © 2001 by the College of Emergency
Physicians.
0196-0644/2001/$35.00 + 0
47181114534
doi: l O.l O671mem.2001.114534
5 5 4 A
Pediatric Emergency
Medicine Secrets
Selbst SM, CronanK (eds)
Hanley & Belfus, 2001
425 pages, $39
ISBN 1-56053-411-7
This book is another fine addition to the
Secrets Series. The emphasis of this manual
is on the need-to-know pearls of pediatric
emergency medicine. The editors have done
a superb job of pulling together 68 chapters
written by an equal number of experts in their
fields to create a volume from which pediatri-
cians and emergency physicians will both
benefit.
The chapters are logically arranged with
the most critical, those dealing with ad-
vanced life support, presented in the first
section. These are followed by 25 chapters,
each dealing with the primary pediatric com-
plaints that are most likelyto be encountered
in an emergency department, such as ear
pain, fever, or foreign bodies. These chapters
are followed by sections on medical emer-
gencies, surgical emergencies, and trauma.
Environmental emergencies and special top-
ics conclude the book. The ease with which
one can find the information should make this
book an invaluable quick reference for medi-
cal students and residents rotating through
the emergency department. Indeed, I wish
the book had been around when I was a pedi-
atric emergency fel low itwould have made a
welcome addition to my reading as I reviewed
for my board examinations.
This book is compact enough to be kept
handy when working a clinical shift. Most of
the chapters are no more than 5 or 6 pages
N N A L S OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE 375 MAY 2001
long, allowing the physician to quickly scan
for pertinent information when a "refresher"
about the differential diagnosis of a particu-
lar patient is needed.
However, a number of the chapters are
much longer, providing extensive overviews of
their subjects with tables and treatment alter-
natives. The chapter on infectious diseases,
for example, discusses the all-important
issue of age range when approaching the
very common complaint of fever and also dis-
cusses organ systems with multiple tables to
help guide treatment decisions. Similarly, the
chapter on poisoning covers this complex
topic in a detailed and concise fashion. It
highlights the concept of "deadly in a dose"
as it applies to the toddler.
Each chapter is arranged in a highly read-
able question-and-answer format, and many
of the chapters are interspersed with cases
to emphasize key points. For example, chap-
ter 19, which addresses "limp" as a symptom,
both uses the question-and-answer format to
highl ight the important approach to a patient
with this problem and uses multiple-choice
questions and several pertinent cases to
focus the reader on the most important causes
to consider in the differential. Dr. Shaw's
chapter on fluids and electrolytes provides
the necessary formulas to approach the fre-
quent problem of dehydration and gives case
examples to illustrate howto workthrough
the calculations for dispensing the appropri-
ate fluids.
Pediatric EmergencyMedicine Secretsis
similar in layout to Synopsisof Pediatric
EmergencyMedicineby Gary R. Fleisher and
Stephen Ludwig, which is considerably longer
and more of an abbreviated reference book.
Pediatric EmergencyMedicineSecretsalso
BOOK REVIEWS
contains illustrative radiographs, which are
not generally a part ofthe Secrets Series.
The McGraw-Hill PediatricEmergency
Medicine: A ComprehensiveStudyGuideis
slightly longer but is not as handy for quick
reference. Its chapters are in text format and
provide a more thorough overview.
Lastly, Crain's ClinicalManual of Emer-
gency Pediatrics is also a close competitor.
This book is also concise with an emphasis on
management and disposition advice for spe-
cific illnesses, but the writing style and sec-
tion layout are quite different.
Students of pediatric emergency medicine
now have a new, highly readable volume to
help sharpen their knowledge. Pediatric
EmergencyMedicine Secretsis best suited
for those who enjoy memory tools, mnemon-
ics, and quizzes to help them learn or for
those who want a book small enough that it
can be kept nearby for a "sneak peak" during
work.
Paula J. Whiteman, MD
Department of EmergencyMedicine
Cedars-SinaiMedical Center
Los Angeles, CA
Handbook of Medical
Photography
Stack LB, StorrowAB, Morris/VIA (eds)
Hanley & Belfus, 2000
469 pages, $55
ISBN 1-5605-3213-0
Is it an armpit, a gluteal cleft, or a swamp?
Questions like these often come to mind
when someone projects medical photo-
graphic handiwork at a conference. We've all
snapped photos of rashes and interesting
lesions, but how many of us really know what
we're doing? Medical images can be more
descriptive than the most eloquent prose, or
they can be downright confusing. With the
recent publication of the Handbookof
Medical Photography, Lawrence Stack, Alan
Storrow, and Michael Morris are clearly hop-
ing to raise the standards of clinical images.
The Handbookof Medical Photography
begins with a review of what equipment to
buy and an explanation of why digital photog-
raphy is not yet adequate. It quickly becomes
apparent that this book is intended for the
serious medical photographer. If you want to
MAY 2001 375 ANNALS OF EMERGENCY M
publish your photographs in a book or journal, the weakest in the book. Issues of consent
use them as part of the medical record, show and libel are presented with examples from
them at a major conference, or submit them case law, but I found the prose to be a bit
as legal or forensic evidence, it probably muddy. I'm still not sure whether it is legal to
won't be adequate to whip out your pocket publish a picture of someone's foot without
digital or 35-mm camera. We are talking written consent despite this subject having
about a small closet full of equipment at a been addressed explicitly.
substantial investment of money and time if Overall, this book is an excellent technical
you want to do it right. manual for those seeking to produce the high-
If you already know the basic principles of est quality medical images for publication.
photography, you may enjoy reviewing them Those of us with less stringent requirements
in the context of medical practice. F-stops, probably won't benefit from the largest sec-
shutter speeds, lighting, and film selection tion on regional anatomy. This and the fact
all are important and depend on the clinical that many of the remaining chapters are
context. Did you know that there is a special redundant make me wonder whether most of
kind of film that is specially made for shoot- the useful information could have been pre-
ing pictures of x-rays or that different rashes sented in a much smaller, less expensive for-
require different kinds of lighting? The chap- mat, perhaps even in a short series of journal
ter on technique is excellent and demon- articles. It is obvious that the book's editors
strates through specific examples and some share a common passion for medical photog-
well-chosen figures exactly why some pho- raphy and that they hope to bring the rest of
tographs are much better than others. us up to their level, i'm just not sure that you
A chapter on equipment is a bit redun- need this book if all you want to do is make it
dant, but it clearly demonstrates how know- abundantly clear that the crater on the screen
ing what all those little buttons on the back of is on the penis and not on Venus.
your high-end 35-mm SLR camera do can William Birdsong, MD
really expand your repertoire of photographic Bellevue Hospital Center
options. Additionally, ifyou have ever at- New YorkUniversity
tempted and failed (as I have)to capture a New York,NY
lengthy surgical procedure on film, you will
appreciate the section on photography in the
operating room.
The chapter "Technique by Body Location"
is the largest in the book at 330 pages. This is
basically a regional atlas of surface anatomy
that explains how to shoot pictures of every
part ofthe human bodyto achieve textbook-
quality images. The photographs in this sec-
tion are beautiful and are arranged at the top
ofthe left-hand page with a textual outline of
the technique below. On the facing page a
line drawing illustrates the setup and the
manner in which each photograph was taken.
This chapter is invaluable for those who seek
to attain the highest quality images, but most
of the setups are too elaborate for most prac-
tical, day-to-day applications.
Chapters on photographing radiographic
images, forensics, photojournalism, and stor-
age all are clearly written and useful, and an
essay on digital photography makes it clear
that it is virtually impossible to take excellent
digital photographs without a camera that
costs $16,000. The final chapter on the legal
aspects of medical photography is, perhaps,
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