Editors: Paul A. Benaskiewicz, FRCS; and Deiary F. Kader, FRCS
Publisher: Cambridge University Press – 949 pages
Book Review by: Nano Khilnani

This is one of the best textbooks in the United Kingdom on orthopedics, according to Dr. Bill Ledingham who wrote the Foreword for this book. Our research shows that It is a popular, commercially successful, and award-winning work as well, now in its third (2017) edition, after its first and second releases in 2009 and 2012.

Planning, compiling information, and writing a book requires tremendous focus and almost unending hours of work on the project, to have a successful outcome.

This book won “a highly commended prize” from the British Medical Association awards in London in 2012, after the release of its second edition.

“We realized that evening that a third edition was inevitable, and probably would be needed sooner than later !,” write the editors Drs. Paul A. Benaskiewicz and Deiary F. Kader in their Preface to this edition.

The editors write that the book’s popularity increased, and upon closer examination, they noticed that the second edition had some deficiencies that needed to be addressed. “We needed some extra illustrations; some tidying up of chapters that could have read better; and additional specific details for the trickier areas of the syllabus, like basic science.”

They mention other features as well that their 2012 edition required for “polishing up.” Those improvements were incorporated in this third and latest edition. For this third edition, each chapter reviewed, revised and updated.

Fifty-three specialists in various areas relating to orthopaedics – all from the United Kingdom, except one each from Australia and Ireland – authored the 36 chapters of this book, organized broadly around nine Sections. We list the titles of the sections to provide you an overview:

  1. Section 1. The FRCS (TR & Orth.) Examination
  2. Section 2. The Written Paper
  3. Section 3. The Clinicals
  4. Section 4. The General Orthopaedics and Pathology Oral
  5. Section 5. The Hand and Upper Limb Oral
  6. Section 6. The Paediatric Oral
  7. Section 7. The Trauma Oral
  8. Section 8. The Basic Science Oral
  9. Section 9. Miscellaneous Topics

Additional information and resources are provided at www.PostGraduateOrthopedics.com to maximize your learning potential. Some areas of the website provide supplemental orthopedic material, as well as updates and web links. Profiles of the authors who wrote or co-wrote the chapters of this third and previous two editions are also presented there.

You can give your feedback on the book, and among the valuable pieces of information you will find in the above-stated website you will find are the following:

  • Book Material
  • Revision Course
  • Examination Dates
  • Feedback

We highly recommend to readers that they thoroughly examine each portion of chapter 1 – General Guidance – in order to achieve a successful outcome on their examination. They are:

  • Examination format
  • Section 1: the written test
  • Section 2: clinical and orals (vivas)
  • Marking
  • Section 1:
  • Section 2
  • ’96 opportunities to score’
  • Orals
  • Clinical
  • Preparation advice  
  • ‘Plan, prepare, practice, perform
  • The event itself
  • Section 1
  • Section 2
  • FRCS (Tr & Orth.) dry run
  • EBOT examination
  • References

This book is an authoritative, comprehensive, extensive, and intensive textbook to prepare yourself for the FRCS (Tr & Orth.) Examination. It is one of the best, if not the best guides to a successful passing of this critically important exam, part of the process of qualifying and licensing to practice orthopedics in the United Kingdom.

 

Editors:

Paul A. Benaskiewicz, FRCS (Glasgow), FRCS (E), FRCS (Eng), FRCS (TR and Orth.), M ClinEd), FAdacadMEd FHEA is Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and North East NHS Surgical Center (NENSC) in Gatehead, UK.

Deiary F. Kader, FRCS (Glasgow), FRCS (ED), FRCSW (Tr and Orth.) MFSEM (UK) is Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon, Academic Unit South West London Elective Orthopedic Center, Visiting Professor in Sport and Exercise Science at Northumbia University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the United Kingdom.