BDI News No. 2, February 2009
A Helpful Picture Book
Matthias Hofer
Doc’s Coach
Practical Applications for Clinics and Medical Practices
Didamed Verlag, Düsseldorf 2008
192 pp., 1,041 figs., 14 tables, €29.90
First impressions: A large-format picture book with very little text. Upon closer inspection, however, a pleasant surprise: All the routine tasks required in the day-to-day work of an internal medicine and neurology ward are presented in words and pictures, supplemented by intensive care techniques and resuscitation procedures. In addition to typical nursing tasks such as measuring blood sugar or blood pressure, these include challenging procedures such as central venous catheter placement, intubation, dilation tracheotomy, and pleural drainage. Especially for routine tasks like blood pressure measurements, the manual provides very important information on the consequences of incorrect technique. Of course, simply reading *Doc’s Coach* won’t be enough to enable you to intubate or place a subclavian catheter on your own. However, the manual provides the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the procedure step by step in advance, review the relevant anatomy, and, with the assistance of an experienced colleague, learn medical procedures while well-prepared. The numerous illustrations make it easier to visualize the correct technique. The frequent reminders about proper hygiene practices are particularly useful. The coverage of important innovations—such as injury-resistant Braun catheters orCO₂ monitoring to verify correct tube placement—is also impressive. The review questions included at the end of some chapters—for example, on the assessment of a peripheral arterial blood gas analysis—are also helpful.
In accordance with the procedures shown, the target audience includes not only physicians at the beginning of their continuing medical education but also nurses, particularly those working in anesthesia and intensive care.
Conclusion
Offering good value for the price, this book—thanks to its format—is well-suited for preparation and follow-up at the start of clinical practice, helping readers correctly master the medical craft, although—as is common in everyday clinical practice—medical and nursing tasks sometimes overlap. It has a good index and a concise bibliography. The symbols in the text and illustrations are confusing at first.
Dr. Ruth Rusche, MPH