Media Reviews

Making Sense of Statistics in HealthCareby Anna HartRadcliffe Medical Press, Oxford, 2001,162 pages, ISBN 1 857 75472 7.

Another statistics text for health care isalways welcome, especially when it iswritten as well as this one. This textis short, not densely packed with infor-mation, well illustrated and there ishardly an equation in sight. This isnot, however, a ‘dumbed down’ versionof statistics: this author has really triedto convey to readers what the subject ofstatistics is about and how they canmake best use of it.

The material is presented in ninechapters with two appendices and aglossary of terms. Beginning withsome background on statistics andresearch design the book proceeds totypes of data before considering thegraphical presentation of data andhow this can be used to mislead.The central limit theorem and thenormal distribution of data arepresented in an accessible way. Thechapter on hypothesis testing includeseverything that one would wish toconvey regarding P-values, the stan-dard deviation, the standard errorand confidence intervals. Evaluatingevidence is included towards the endand it appears that this is now anobligatory part of even the mostintroductory statistics courses.

Finally, the author – presumably asa cry from the heart – advises readerson how to make best use of statisti-cians. There is a list of ‘dos anddon’ts’ which is well worth referringto. If you want to involve a statisti-cian then it should be as early aspossible. As someone who teachesintroductory statistics to healthcarestudents I will be recommending thisbook and making considerable use ofit myself.

Roger WatsonMedia Reviews Editor

Symptom Management in AdvancedCancer, 3rd editionby Robert Twycross andAndrew WilcockRadcliffe Medical Press, Oxford, 2001,432 pages, £27Æ50, ISBN 1 857 75510 3.

The third edition of this comprehensivetext on Symptom Management inAdvanced Cancer has been generallyupdated since its first publication in1995 and now includes a chapter onclinical guidelines. The authors acknow-ledge that the book is aimed primarily atdoctors in order that they may develop ascientific approach to symptom manage-ment. However, after reading this bookfor the first time I think it is an invaluabletext for anyone working in cancer andpalliative care. For the reader, eachchapter is constructed well, clearly iden-tifying topics to be covered. The use ofdiagrams, charts, tables and bullet pointsmakes for easy reading and under-standing. Ideas for patient informationare also suggested. Full reference lists aregiven at the end of each chapter, theauthors are varied and not just drawnfrom the medical journals. The text iscomprehensive in its coverage ofsymptom management both physicaland psychosocial and the addition of thechapter on clinical guidelines is useful.

For someone unfamiliar with thefirst two editions, it is apparent fromthe opening paragraph in chapter 1that this text encourages the doctor towork in partnership with the patientand discusses in great detail the finerart of communication for those whomay feel lost for words. This book isholism at its best, each chapter seeksto find empathy with the patient as abaseline from which to formulate andprovide care and treatment. I wouldnot hesitate to recommend this bookto anyone working with patients andtheir families in cancer and palliativecare.

Tracey McCreadyUniversity of Hull, UK

Opportunities and Options in MedicalCareersby Ruth Chambers, Kay Mohanna andSteve FieldRadcliffe Medical Press, Oxford, 2000,169 pages, £17Æ95, ISBN 1 857 75451 4.

If you thought that doctors’ careerchoices involved arriving at a medicalschool with good educational qualifi-cations and then not getting off thetreadmill until becoming a consultant –preferably a surgeon – with all otheroptions representing failure, then thisbook will challenge that view. Medicaldoctors have a wide range of opportun-ities open to them and not all of theseinvolve working either in a surgery or ahospital. Interspersed with case studies,personal statements and some amusingcartoons, this book opens up the worldof medical careers. It should be especi-ally useful to anyone considering acareer in medicine or just coming to theend of their training. However, it claimsto be written for doctors at all stages oftheir career and, of course, it will be veryuseful for new medical students whomay have entered a medical schoolmerely because they have good qualifi-cations rather than any inclination tofollow a career in medicine.

There are six chapters and the lasttwo particularly interested me. Chapter5 outlines the different areas of medicineand beyond – up to and includingmedical journalism – which may bepursued. I was struck by just how hardit is to pursue certain specialities such aradiology and how none of themappeared easy. Chapter 6 was especiallyuseful and, in a sense, generic because itreferred to CV presentation and inter-views and contained good informationfor anyone setting out on the careerpath. The book was completed by a veryuseful appendix and will find a place inour library for the use of medicalstudents.

Roger WatsonMedia Reviews Editor

Ó 2002 Blackwell Science Ltd 311