12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The gold-standard OB/Gyn handbook, but could be better, Jun 29 2009
By johnny4 - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Infertility: Handbook For Clinicians (Pocket Ed) (Paperback)
I've used this book as a 3rd and 4th-year medical student and am soon to begin my OB/Gyn residency.
Pros:
-Primary care section covers the big topics you might see in a typical primary care setting.
-Outline format helps pack in information
-Helpful diagrams, such as those for pre-eclampsia and abnormal uterine bleeding
-ACLS section (includes neonatal resuscitation algorithm)
-Concise medical spanish section
-Some high-yield anatomical drawings
-The new REI section is quite extensive (also a "con")
-The operative reports section is great. For residents, this may be one of the best aspects of the book.
Cons:
-Excessively thick. This edition gained a lot of weight/pages because Dr. Lebovic's REI handbook was basically added on to the previous edition. The length and width pretty stayed the same, so the book just got thicker. The book is too thick to carry on you if you're just wearing scrubs, but can be fit in your white coat. Even so, it just feels annoyingly bulky and heavy.
-Not well-indexed. The index could be more extensive and intuitive. I have only used this book as a third- and fourth-year med student, but I can tell you that there were many times when I tried to look something up in the index, only to get frustrated and wish that I had just searched for it via UpToDate.
-The binding needs to be stronger, given the physical characteristics of the book. My book is split in half, only held together by the cover.
-The length of the REI section. It's roughly as long as the OB section. Given the scope of what OB/Gyn med students and residents experience, that much REI is too extensive for this type of book.
-Even though this book is jam-packed with info, there are many pages that have a lot of unused space. Which makes the thickness of the book even more annoying.
Should you buy it? If you're an OB/Gyn resident or a medical student with an interest in the field, yes. This is the gold-standard clinical handbook for OB/Gyn. If you're a third-year med student who probably isn't going into OB/Gyn, only get it if you think you'd really benefit from carrying a handbook that has a lot of information that you probably wouldn't need/use.
I hope that the next edition is slimmer. It could be made a bit wider and longer, and could be more concise in some areas and have less wasted space in others. With these changes, the book could easily be less than 300 pages. If this were the case, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Resource, Sep 3 2007
By S. Hopkins "Savannah's Mom" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Infertility: Handbook For Clinicians (Pocket Ed) (Paperback)
This is a great book, especially for the price. It is too bad it has lost its "pocket size", but on the other hand you can actually read the font in this edition, and there are several important additions/expansions (actually it does fit in the coat pockets, it is just a little bulky). I would certainly recommend this book to anyone doing Ob/Gyn clerkships, Sub-I's or residency. Other than Up to Date and hospital-specific protocols, this is the most-used reference.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
AWESOME!, Jan 23 2008
By farassa - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Infertility: Handbook For Clinicians (Pocket Ed) (Paperback)
Awesome edition - has everything you'll want to know as a med student, intern, ob/gyn resident, REI fellow, and even attendings. Lots of good info in this brick of a book.