The Hands-On Guide for House Officers covers both the personal aspects of being a doctor and the day-to-day reality of responding to acute emergencies, dealing with common calls and carrying out practical procedures. It tells you:

- what to expect in the first week

- how to prescribe and give drugs

- how to run your own night rounds, tone down your bleep and get more sleep

- how to organize paperwork and work through the mass of hospital forms

- how to arrange your finances, understand tax and maximize your pension

- how to practise evidence-based medicine

- how to discharge patients, talk to fraught relatives

- how to select a computer, start your own medical database and organize your next job

- how to insert central lines, perform chest drains and read ECGs

- how to manage GI bleeds, overdoses and oliguria

- how to prepare diabetic patients for surgery

The first edition of this best-selling book helped thousands of anxious doctors through their first year. Why not see for yourself how it can help you?

"I would recommend this book to senior medical students and doctors in their foundation years. it is an excellent small but comprehensive text." Foundation Programme Director, Cheltenham General Hospital

"The book provides incredibly useful and easy to follow advice for a great majority of the day to day situations you will find yourself in as a PRHO. It will prove a great help when getting to grip with the job in the first few months, and well worth storing in the locker for the morning after pay day party. Summary: Well worth a butchers" Black Bag, Bristol University Medical School Gazette

"This book is one of the most useful things to have stashed in your pocket for your shadowing period and F1 year so why not get it now and have some use of it while you're a student?" Rectum, Leeds Medical School Magazine

"This pocket handbook is not only a delight to look at with its colourful cover, it is amazingly concise. It begins with an explanation for the fresh faced F1 about what to wear from day one, leading confidently through to practical procedures and common calls. It collates the information about the practicalities of the FY1 that one is expected to acquire from medical school in one small book."QMM Magazine, Birmingham University

Pre publication reviews of the 3rd Edition

"The content within the book is extremely relevant...the Hands on Guide continues to be a valuable resource for PRHO." SHO Somerset & Taunton

"The text is very user friendly. Information is easy to find, and extract. The illustrations are most informative, and the chapters appear in a logical order and are well structured." SHO Nottingham

Published Reviews of the 2nd Edition

"It is exactly what it says: a practical, no-nosense, hands-on guide to real life as a PRHO. ….Basically, its all the information we should have acquired during medical school but rarely have all in one place as we place so much emphasis on book learning and little on the practicalities of daily life as a PRHO." Northwing, vol.67, no.2, Autumn/Winter 2002

Published Reviews of the 1st Edition

This book is as essential as the Oxford Handbook or the BNF, to put it mildly "the best thing since sliced bread" St. Thomas' Medical Gazette

"This wonderful book contains all you need to know to get through your house jobs..... it has priority in my already laden white coat over the Oxford Handbook." 2nd Opinion

"I'd advise everyone to get this book as an accompaniment to your Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine." Sphincter

"It is very well written, beautifully laid out and extremely practical." Dr Tony Hope, Director of Ethox, Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford

"This book is as essential as the Oxford Handbook or the BNF, to put it mildly 'the best thing since sliced bread'." St. Thomas' Medical Gazette

"Invaluable for HOs but more than useful for 5th year medical students and SHOs too!" Southampton Health Journal

This book is designed to help the reader prepare for the actual daily rigours of hospital life and is an essential guide for surviving the first years as a junior doctor.

It covers the personal aspects of being a doctor and the day-to-day reality of clinical life such as responding to acute emergencies, dealing with common calls, drug prescribing and carrying out practical procedures.

Unique to this book are sections on getting organized, arranging your finances, selecting a computer, organising the next job and how to practise evidence-based medicine.

*clearly explains how to do everything required of a house officer

*instructs on procedures

*helps in diagnosing common symptoms

*protocols for dealing with common diseases

*describes ward calls, paperwork and self-care

*new co-author to ensure that clinical details are updated

*additional material in procedures section and on pay, tax and government guidelines'

The Hands-on Guide for Junior Doctors is a practical book for junior doctors and medical students making the transition from medical school to life on the wards. It contains new material to reflect the changes in PRHO training and the development of foundation programmes.

This book tells you how to prepare for the actual daily rigours of hospital life and is an essential guide for surviving your first year as a junior doctor.

It covers the personal aspects of being a doctor, outlining the realities of ward life including paperwork, self-care and guidance sections on arranging your finances and organising the next job.

It also provides the day-to-day reality of clinical life such as responding to acute emergencies, common ward calls, drug prescribing and carrying out practical procedures.

Mike Stein is Project Director, Medic-to-Medic, Royal Free Hospital

James Teo is a prize-winning final year student at Royal Free Medical School, who will be commencing his first PRHO job in August 2004.

2. Getting organized (the folder).

3. Paperwork.

4. Accident and emergency.

5. Becoming a better doctor.

6. Cardiac arrests and crash calls.

7. Common calls.

8. Death and dying.

9. Drugs.

10. Handle with care.

11. Approach to the medical patient.

12. Pain.

13. Practical procedures.

14. Radiology.

15. Surgery.

16. Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

17. General practice.

18. Self care.

Appendix A: Useful tests, numbers and other information.

Appendix B: Diagrams for explaining procedures to patients