George Collins, University College London

Whilst reading this brand new book “General Practice: The Integrative Approach” by Kerryn Phelps and Craig Hassed, it is clear that both authors are highly successful, passionate and patient-centred general practitioners of the modern age. At Medical School I have never been properly taught about life as a general practitioner, let alone integrative medicine in general practice, and after reading through this new textbook I felt angry at the stigma students receive when they express interest in becoming a general practitioner. The two authors have produced a textbook that is realistic, highly objective and entirely evidence based, and it is a refreshing read that changed my perception of life as a general practitioner for the better. I would highly recommend it as a core textbook to any student who, after spending time in hospital, wishes to properly discover what Medicine is like in the community. “General Practice: The Integrative Approach” focusses on diseases that are managed in the community and provides advice on managing the most demanding of modern patients using an integrative approach. Overall, it offers a more personal, community-oriented approach to all the topics in Medicine and I would recommend it highly - also, with fully online access at Student Consult, you can access and search this textbook from any computer with internet access.

Posted 5th Aug 2011

Bernard Ho, St George's, University of London

Although this book is called ‘General Practice’ and written by two doctors based in Australia, this book forms a very good basis of knowledge for any medical student and PBLs. This book is very similar to Kumar and Clark in the sense that the book goes through different diseases of different systems in a very systemic, organized way. However this book brings certain topics into discussion too, such as social conditions (i.e. domestic violence) into the reader’s mind. There is also an interesting appendix in this book on herbal-drug interaction. Perfect for CBL/PBL. Not the best book to look up patient pathways or other resources, as this is an Australia-based book, so some aspects will be different, but otherwise, I would highly recommend this book for those that are considering GP as a career choice, and those that want an alternative to Kumar and Clark or Davidson’s for the ‘bread and butter’ of medicine.

Posted 16th Mar 2011