Roberts and Hedges’ Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine and Acute Care, 7th Edition

By James R. Roberts, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, FACMT

ISBN: 9780323354783

Pub Date: 2/7/2018

Reviewed by: Michael D. Zwank, MD, RDMS, FACEP (University of Minnesota Medical School)

Description

It has been over 30 years since this reference was first published. Now in its seventh edition, it continues to cover the evolving realm of procedures performed in emergency medicine. With over 1,500 pages of text and an equally extensive online offering, the book successfully discusses all procedures that an emergency physician might ever need to perform. The previous edition was published four years ago.

Purpose

The purpose, according to the authors, is to provide “complete, very detailed, and up-to-date descriptions” of many of the commonly performed procedures in emergency medicine. This is certainly a worthy objective given the breadth of emergency medicine. The book and online content do an excellent job of describing and demonstrating a wide variety of procedures. While many of the procedures are certainly described elsewhere and free-of-charge on the internet, this is a valuable resource in that it is a reliable single source for all relevant procedures.

Audience

The audience is diverse, including novices as well as experienced emergency medicine providers. As an example, procedures as simple as prehospital immobilization and intravenous access are covered, which might be interesting to novice providers. On the other side, complex procedures such as extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation and resuscitative thoracotomy are aimed at more advanced providers. There are a number of old and new authors, all of whom are well known in the field.

Features

This has been recognized as the authoritative book on emergency medicine procedures. It really does cover every procedure that an EM provider might need to perform. This includes absolute basics such as bag-valve-mask ventilation, intravenous access, and fracture splinting. At the same time, it covers more cutting-edge topics such as push dose pressors, ultrasound-guided nerve blocks, and newer techniques for reduction of dislocated joints. Discussion of the various topics is achieved through written text and thousands of high-quality images.

Assessment

When a book was first published over 30 years ago, I can imagine the authors tending to rest on their laurels. That is not the case with this book. As evidenced by a large number of new authors, countless images, and high-quality videos on current topics, this book remains as relevant as ever. It is truly the definitive reference on emergency medicine procedures.

Doody’s Review Service Weighted Numerical Score: 93 — 4 Stars!