INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, VOL. 7: 769-771 (1992)

BOOK REVIEWS Principles and Practice of Geriatric Medicine, second edi- tion. Edited by M. S. J. PATHY. Wiley, Chichester, 1991. No. of DaPes: 1607. Price: E125.00.

agement problems arose. None of the chapters were especially useful for this. However, if you have to prepare a lecture on a topic you do not know well, most of the

This is the biggest book I have ever been asked to review and I pondered long and hard over how best to go about it. I decided to try and read it from cover to cover and managed to get as far as page 406 (or the end of chapter 23). The first nine chapters form Part 1 , ‘Scientific Aspects of Human Ageing’. What is to be found here is largely predictable and differs little from what is to be found in the first edition of this book. Some of the chapters have changed little, eg Immunity and Ageing. All but one of the references in this chapter are from the late 1970s-early 1980s. Part 2, ‘Ageing and Society’, comprises four chapters on epidemiological and social aspects of human ageing. These are generally competent and useful. Part 3 addresses ‘Ageing and Function’ and, to my mind. these four chapters are the best in the book, especially the chapter by Weg on Sensuality, Sexuality, and Intimacy in Ageing.

Part 4 addresses ‘Medicine in old Age’. The chapters are organizcd around organs and systems. My approach to these chapters was to consult them over problems encountered on my ward rounds, especially when man-

chapters give a sound and non-controversial overview. Part 5 , entitled ‘Delivery of Health Care’, is worth read- ing and does give some interesting insights into how the problems or organizing health care for old people might be addressed.

My overall impression is of a big book in which it is attempted to present clinical geriatric medicine and the biological basis of ageing in a single volume. It achieves this aim in a conventional and predictable way. However, there are few connections made between the biology and the clinical practice. Maybe there are none to be made! Furthermore, little in the book conveys much excitement for either the biology or the medicine. If the potential purchaser is looking for a fairly standard, syste- matic overview, he should certainly take a look at this book. However, my advice would be to wait for the immi- nent publication of the latest edition of ‘Brocklehurst’ and the new Oxford Textbook of Geriatric Medicine, and to compare all three.

MICHAEL A. HORAN University of Munchester

Manageme,it Training for Psychiatrists. Edited by D. BHUGRA and A. BURNS. Gaskell Books, London; Ameri- can Psychiatric Press, USA, 1992. No. of pages: 260. Price: & I 5.00.

management’ by Helena Waters, the psychiatrist now disguised as a management consultant, advocating that we take up breathing exercises, contemplation and medi- tation or a touch of massage to help us through the stress-

How interesting it would be to read a book on psychiatric training written by managers. What a surprise we might get. It was with a spirit of scepticism then that I looked down the contributors to this book which is about man- agement training for psychiatrists but written by psychia- trists, public health physicians and a sprinkling of ‘management consultants’, one of whom at least is a psy- chiatrist in disguise. The content of this book is directed to psychiatric trainees working in the UK and therefore geared specifically to the labyrinthine bureaucracies of the National Health Service. But it might surprise man- agement colleagues in its emphasis on the role of doctors. There is, for example, an excellent chapter by Dr Eliza- beth Shore on medical manpower planning, but no other chapter on human resource management. The first sur- prise to face any new clinical manager in the health ser- vice is how few the number of doctors are and how vast the numbers of nurses and other staff. Planning the numbers of doctors is a relatively straightforward matter compared with the broader issues of manpower planning and the wider human resource problems which affect all service industries.

I have another quibble. There is a chapter on ‘stress

fulness of clinical work. But she left out of her chapter the most successful way of avoiding the stress of clinical work-give it up and become a manager. And if that’s too tough, become a management consultant guru instead!

Having said that this book is not perfect, I would urge UK psychiatrists in training to buy it and read it. It is well written overall, with lots ofreadable short chapters edited in a consistent and well-planned way. This book will helpfully introduce trainees to the concepts of health service management which clinical consultants need, especially when they first take up a new consultant post. It is informative about the management tasks of specialist psychiatrists, if not the management tasks of the managers. It is a handy size, good value for money and has the backing of the Royal College of Psychiatrists; indeed it is published under their imprint. This book recognizes the importance of management training for psychiatrists and fills a yawning gap in books for post- graduate trainees. Worth buying.

ELAINE MURPHY Guy’s Hospital, London

0 1992 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd