Understanding Anesthesia Equipment: [Hardcover]

Jerry A. Dorsch (Author), Susan E. Dorsch (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0683304879 | ISBN-13: 978-0683304879 | Publication Date: January 15, 1999 | Edition: 4

Recommended in the Brandon/Hill selected list of print books and journals for the small medical library - April 2001 & 2003 The "Bible on Anesthesia Equipment" and in a new edition, this book once again takes the readers step by step through all the basic anesthesia equipment. This absolute leader in the field gives comprehensive references and detailed discussions on the scientific fundamentals of anesthesia equipment as well as a review of its design and optimal use

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1066 pages
• Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 4 edition (January 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0683304879
• ISBN-13: 978-0683304879
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #84 in Books > Medical Books > Pharmacology > Pain Medicine

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better off?, October 4, 2005

By 

Dream Doc "SK" (Bangalore, India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Anesthesia Equipment: (Hardcover)

An inevitable must for all new residents coming into the world of anaesthesia and medical technology.
Each new edition of the book gets more and more modern equipment oriented - losing out on the simplistic educational value of the older equipment. The gradual loss of the Non-rebreathing valves, from the second edition followed by Goldman vaporizer, EMO, OMV etc has reduced the level of 'ease of understanding' for fresh residents. Indeed, the focus on high tech is a drawback for practice of field/military/third world anaesthesia. There is something to be learnt from the old Ward, Ehrenwerth or even the Farman for youngsters.
Other than this, an excellent & comprehensive textbook. Could have done with a little more detail on advanced newer technologies being introduced.
Dr SK Singh, Cardiothoracic Anaesthesiologist, India

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, October 12, 2008

By 

Thomas A. Mc Hugh (Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Understanding Anesthesia Equipment (Dorsch, Understanding Anesthesia Equipment) (Hardcover)

I am sad that this will be the last volume by authors I have relied on since I began in anesthesia in 1981. This is my third purchase of one of their works but I must say that I am dissappointed. Much of the charm of earlier editions (I own 1st and 4th) seems to be missing and there seems to be a reliance on manufacturer's supplied illustrations. Explanations and diagrams seem to come directly from the manufactuer.

That being said I would still recommend this book to students (both SRNAs and Resident physcians)as a required text. This book will alow you to be competent to trouble shoot a system while waiting for BME to arrive,or for you to feel confident to swap a machine in the middle of a case. It gives you a familiarization of much adjunct equipment before you use it the first time. It apprises you of possible hazards and deals with evnvironmental issues in anesthetizing locations.

Not their best work, but have not seen anyone else consistently cover this topic over the span of their work. A replacement will be hard to find, and future practitioners will suffer with their retirement.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Necessary But Could Be So Much Better, November 23, 2009

By 

Jacob Hantla "hantla.com" (Chandler, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Understanding Anesthesia Equipment (Dorsch, Understanding Anesthesia Equipment) (Hardcover)

Dorsch and Dorsch's Understanding Anesthesia Equipment is simply the most thorough book on anesthesia equipment out there that I am aware of. You will find most of the general basics of anesthesia equipment in Barash's Clinical Anesthesia and even more summary books like Stoelting's Basics of Anesthesia) and Morgan & Mikhail's Clinical Anesthesiology. Nevertheless, those books tend to not give you the ins-and-outs of all of the various equipment out there. Dorsch & Dorsch provide very detailed information ad nauseum. However, the endless black-and-white diagrams and black-and-white photos (though it appears very accurate) make the book very difficult to find the precise information that you are looking for. And the black-and-white diagrams tend to be much more difficult to understand than is necessary. For a book that has been through so many revisions and costs well upward of a hundred bucks, I would expect some color photos and some better constructed color diagrams.

The book does seem thorough, but is simply so much more difficult to use than it needs to be. Using Dorsch & Dorsch as a base text, we are strongly in need of a full revision aimed at formatting, photo, and diagram revisions.

The website included in the book offers a searchable text and a test bank. The search engine on the text is poor and very difficult to use. I find myself going to the chapter of interest and using a ctrl-f browser-based search of the page. The online quizzes are the exact same as is found at the end of each chapter. I have taken about half of the quizzes and have found errors in the online-based quiz bank in approximately half of those that I took. In need of some quality control. Nevertheless, I am appreciative of the online access to the text.