Medical Specialty Board Review

The American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) has recently changed their Part II examination for certification to include the traditional oral exam as well as a new “simulation” portion that is geared towards having the student demonstrate the appropriate communication and technical skills necessary for the practice of anesthesiology. This book is divided into 2 sections: full length practice exams on the most high yield topic for the field of anesthesiology and full length simulation scenarios geared towards the understanding the fundamentals of the simulation portion based on the released ABA guidelines.Less

Focused preparation for Critical Care Certification is needed to ensure success. The Anesthesiology Critical Care Certification examination in particular provides an objective assessment from the perspective of physicians who have a keen perioperative mindset and skillset, while simultaneously demonstrating comfort in caring for patients from every background and co-morbidity as all such patients frequently eventually require pre-operative or post-operative management. The Anesthesiology Critical Care board review provides Critical Care Examination style stems with an emphasis on being oriented toward Anesthesiology Critical Care certification, though examination preparation for the Internal Medicine (Pulmonary Critical Care), Neurocritical Care and Surgical Critical Care could easily be achieved with this text as part of one’s preparation strategy. The authors provide clinical vignettes with realistic images and values to test one’s diagnostic and critical thinking approach to the perioperative patient. Furthermore, every chapter is authored by a physician board certified in critical care medicine. While most authors are anesthesiologists, our text includes content from intensivists with core training in Surgery and Neurology in order to provide a well-rounded perspective on the cases in this book. Much like ICU rounds, this book is systems based and covers the keywords listed by the American Board of Anesthesiology for certification in Critical Care Medicine. Finally, as each area of content is covered, reference materials are available for the reader to gain further expertise in each topical area. The author’s goal is the impart this text to the reader as a formidable tool for Critical Care Examination Preparation.Less

Emergency Medicine: Board Review is a comprehensive guide for preparing for the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) certification or ConCert recertification exam and for residents preparing for in-training examinations in Emergency Medicine. The text consists of over 950 multiple-choice questions organized into 20 chapters covering topics such as gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and nervous system emergencies as well as various disorders. Chapters include questions, answers with detailed explanations, and test-taking tips to help better navigate a standardized exam. Questions are written in a case-based format that emulates the ABEM and ConCert exams and are supplemented by numerous figures, tables, and boxes.Less

Physicians have cared for acutely ill patients throughout history; after the devastating poliomyelitis epidemics of the 1950s, a new specialty emerged. Initially, respiratory care units were created for these severely affected patients, but soon they were transformed into intensive care units (ICUs). Trauma units and transplant units soon followed. Specialized care for patients with acute neurologic and neurosurgical disease occurred in parallel with these developments, but many of the early neuroscience ICUs were redesigned wards for neurosurgical or neurologic patients. Specialized physicians and nursing staff delivered multidisciplinary care, recognizing that no one group could function well alone. It was inevitable that critical care for the sickest patient was the only option to give them a fighting chance to survive. Currently, neurocritical care board examination combines neurocritical care with general intensive care, and questions are equally divided between the two. It is therefore appropriate to combine both areas of expertise in one single volume. The chapters correspond with the key disorders suggested by UCNS to assist in preparation for the examination. As expected, this book is not only detailed in basic pathophysiology but also presents major disorders and syndromes and their management. Because it has unprecedented full coverage of acute neurology, this book is equally useful as a preparation for the critical care medicine board examination.Less

Pain Medicine is a comprehensive guide for preparing for the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) certification or recertification in pain medicine and also for residents preparing for in-training examinations in pain medicine. The text is organized into 28 chapters covering topics such as anatomy, physiology of pain, pharmacology, diagnosis of pain, and various pain syndromes. Each chapter includes questions, answers, detailed explanations with highlighted key points, and concise further reading lists. Questions follow the ABMS style, and the explications of answers carefully address all points in the ABMS content outline for pain medicine. A section on imaging includes high-quality magnetic resonance images, ultrasound images, fluoroscopic images, and other images that will enable the examination candidate to answer questions that determine knowledge of pathological states compared to normal and complications of treatments. This book will help medical students become interested in the field and also help residents, fellows, and recertification candidates become familiar enough with the material that they can pass the ABMS examination.Less

The field of psychiatry is rapidly evolving, specifically in the areas of psychopharmacology, psychotherapeutic strategies, and the classification of many major psychiatric disorders with the implementation of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5 in 2013. A new board review textbook is imperative to address these changes in order to prepare board-eligible psychiatrists for the certification examination as well as for clinical practice in general. Additionally, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology is in the process of phasing in the DSM-5 criteria to the board examination, such that by 2017 the examination material will exclusively reflect the new manual. The book is aimed primarily at board-eligible psychiatrists preparing for their Initial certification in psychiatry. It will be a useful study tool for psychiatrists renewing certification as well, which in the United States is required every ten years. Furthermore the text will also be a useful reference for all psychiatrists in clinical practice to familiarize themselves with the new diagnostic classifications of DSM-5, the latest psychopharmacologic treatment strategies, and psychotherapeutic techniques.Less