For those considering surgical training, or for those already progressing through this, The Hands-on Guide to Surgical Training is a very readable 304-page guide to the nitty-gritty key points no-one ever tells you about. Comprehensive in its coverage, the text starts with an introduction to the clinical side of surgery. Career structure, surgical equipment and sutures (with colour pictures) together with useful advice on theatre etiquette all offer an excellent introduction to those new to the operating theatre environment. The three most frequently encountered operations are reviewed, including operative photographs, and a guide to ward rounds and clinics provides a wealth of practical experience about what to do and when. The non-clinical chapters explain the different stages of training prior to entering core surgery, and each surgical specialty is then addressed in-depth including recruitment, exams and a trainee eye-view of what it is like to work in the specialty. What really makes this book stand out is the useful training information that all trainees want to know, but which is usually hard to come by and impossible to find in one place. Competition ratios for different surgical specialties, specific career advice for women in surgery, an overview of the training bodies overseeing surgery, the European Working Time Directive and pay-banding all stand out as very pertinent areas trainees should know about, but which are rarely often covered in similar textbooks. The pocket-size format of this book is perfect for carrying around at work and the text contains bold highlights to pick out the useful sections, although in some chapters this is perhaps a little over-done. Overall, this book comes highly recommended as a unique resource that manages to combine key practical clinical information with the really useful sort of training information that many will be keen to read. (Ed Fitzgerald MRCS, Specialist Registrar, General Surgery, The Royal Marsden Hospital, London)
