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The Structured Oral Examination in Anaesthesia. Practice Papers for Teachers and Trainees

Shyam Balasubramanian, Cyprian Mendonca, Colin Pinnock. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge U.K. 2006. 262 pages. $55 US. ISBN 10 0-521- 68050-6

Victorial Hospital, Prince Albert, Canada

The title of this text suggests that it would be useful to both candidates and attending staff in preparing for a typical oral examination in anesthesia. However, the target audience for this book is trainees and examiners preparing for the primary examination in anesthesia in the United Kingdom, which is undertaken after the completion of a minimum of one year of training. As such, its utility for the Canadian Royal College oral examination is limited.

The text consists of ten structured oral exams (SOEs), each of which covers four main subject areas: 1) physiology; 2) pharmacology; 3) clinical; and 4) physics, clinical measurement, and safety. Within each of these SOEs, there is a significant amount of basic science content which is perhaps more relevant to oral examinations in the United Kingdom in comparison to the Canadian system, which leans more towards evaluation of basic sciences on written testing, with clinical scenario problem-solving emphasized on the oral exams.

Each SOE begins with a list of key topics to be discussed, and each is addressed in a series of questions and answer narratives. The key topics form the basis of the index to the text, which is relatively comprehensive. However, as the content of each topic is rather broad, the series of sometimes unrelated short answer questions which follow, are not always directly related to the preceding text. Lack of referencing within the answers provided is a hindrance to further reading.

Despite certain limitations, this practical text should benefit those training for the primary examination in anesthesia in the United Kingdom, and may be of value to Canadian anesthesiologists as a general review of anesthesia at an early juncture in their training. However, the text is not applicable as a preparatory guide for the final Royal College oral examination in Canada, and would be equally misleading if used by preceptors as a guide to preparing candidates for the Canadian oral examination.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a scholarly reply Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Rooney, M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Rooney, M.