ECG's for the Emergency Physician 1 [Paperback]

Amal Mattu (Author), William J. Brady (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0727916548 | ISBN-13: 978-0727916549 | Publication Date: September 29, 2003 | Edition: 1

With over 200 traces to test your knowledge, this book is a first class learning tool for emergency physicians. Basic student-level knowledge of ECGs is assumed, so the reader can move directly to learning about the more complex traces that occur in the emergency department. The level of difficulty is stratified into two sections for specialists in training and specialist emergency physicians.

A minimum amount of information is given beneath each trace, as if in the real situation. The full clinical description is printed in a separate section to avoid the temptation of “looking”.

Accompanied by learning points, and with the cases presented randomly, this book provides a rich source of information on the interpretation of ECGs – a core skill for all emergency department staff.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mattu and Brady have put together 200 ECGs that illustrate virtually all electrocardiographic diagnoses. This is achieved in a self-assessment format that is instructive and interesting...I recommend these as continuing education for Emergency Medicine Specialists: no matter how well honed your skills, there is something here that will make you stop, think and learn...After you have read this book, I suspect the next person to ask you "Just check this ECG" will be overwhelmed with your knowledge!" EMJ Online

From the Publisher

Over 200 high quality ECGs
An ideal self-educating guide for doctors taking electrocardiograms
Helpfully categorised into level of difficulty
-Intermediate level is perfect for Board Review and for teaching resident-level physicians
-Advanced level will challenge even the seasoned practitioner.
Case histories provided for all ECGs with follow up information on the patient, including mistakes that were made in the original interpretations and why
Useful appendices to assist with diagnosis

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: BMJ Books; 1 edition (September 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727916548
• ISBN-13: 978-0727916549
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,155 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT PRACTICE, December 14, 2003

By 

Basil Brimblecombe (Columbia, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ECG's for the Emergency Physician 1 (Paperback)

I've worked with Dr. Amal Mattu in the ER here at University of Maryland, and let me tell you his EKG rounds are always excellent learning experiences be they at 2AM or noon. The same can be said of the book. As a resident in Internal Medicine I always want to look at more EKGs and this book is aimed at the professional who wants to see good examples of the common EKG findings, and also the rarer things such as Brugada syndrome. Each EKG is paired with a short vignette and the answers are in the back.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good information but critically flawed, August 25, 2010

By 

Daniel S. Levy "Daniel in SB" (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ECG's for the Emergency Physician 1 (Kindle Edition)

The EKGs and interpretations are all first rate, and this text has the potential to be a superb learning guide. However the Kindle edition is severely flawed.

The Kindle edition EKGs are presented in one section and the interpretations many pages later. Why's that a problem? After reviewing an individual EKG, you have to aimlessly wander through the later book to find the appropriate interpretation. They're not linked in any way and you can't use Kindle search to find them. It's totally haphazard. Amazingly dumb!

This is a classic case of a lazy translation of "old" technology (a physical book) into new (Kindle). The author/publisher simply needs to put a link on each EKG to the interpretation and visa versa. That way you can see the EKG then instantly reference the interpretation.

Of course they could re-edit the whole book to put the interpretation on the page following individual EKGs, but the link method would be SO much simpler.

As a result, I would strongly recommend avoiding the Kindle edition until the above problem is fixed. Buy the paperback. That way you can keep a finger in the interpretation section while reviewing the EKGs.

This is the first Kindle text I've ever seen that's so vastly inferior to the physical text.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ECGs for anyone serious about ECGs, January 17, 2007

By 

Mr. H (Middle of America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ECG's for the Emergency Physician 1 (Paperback)

Over the last few years, I've looked at quite a few references about ECGs. Mattu's book is certainly one of a kind. Split into two sections, each with 100 12-leads, the text begins subtly and works towards increasing difficulty and complexity of the strips. Each strip includes but a single description of the patient e.g. "46 year old male complaining of left chest pressure." The reader can then form his own impression of the patient's condition, and then refer to the end matter for a detailed explanation of the actual diagnosis.

This is certainly a teaching book. In many cases, I found myself formulating a diagnosis only to read in the back, "This is commonly misdiagnosed as [my guess]" or "This can easily be mistaken for [also my guess.]"

Initially, I was not quite confident text was worth the trouble. It does, after all, simply present strip after strip, with commentary in the back. But the text is structured in such a way that the reader can build upon knowledge and apply past failures at diagnosis to each new strip. I found myself making fewer and fewer elemental mistakes and developing a more complete picture of differential diagnosis as I progressed through the book.

Purely in terms of it's presentation of uncommon variants to common rhythms, the text is well worth the price. I'm not an emergency physician. My interest is EMS and prehospital care. Regardless, I found great utility in this text.