Review by Ben Crane for Otolaryngology and Facial Plastic Surgery Board Review: Pearls of Wisdom, Second Edition
Rating:
I got this book after it was recommended to me by several people to study for the otolaryngology board exam. The book contains lots of questions and answers. Questions are usually answered with a few words or a single sentence. As a result of this format the book does not cover topics in any depth or try to convey differences in opinion between experts in the field. The book would be much improved if references were provided to back up the answer given to individual questions. Although references are provided, at the end but it is a long ‘laundry list’ of references and it is impossible to tell which reference applys to which question.

There are several errors in the book, many more than I can remember now but as I briefly flip through the book it is easy to find a couple examples. For instance on p. 16 they ask what drug should be used for ‘pseudomonas enterocolitis’ and give the answer as metronidizole. Pseudomonas is not sensitive to metronidizole, so one must assume they meant to ask about ‘pseudomembranous colitis’. They also state that Reed-Sternberg cells are unique to Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Although they are classically associated with Hodgkin’s, they are also (rarely) seen in mononucleosis and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This has clinical importance if Reed-Sternberg cellls are seen on an FNA one still needs to do an excisional biopsy to make a proper Hodgkin’s diagnosis. Thus one could make a very serious error using only the information in this book to make clinical decisions.

Very few (if any) of the questions in this book are the same questions asked on the board exam. So simply memorizing the answers given will probably not be useful for passing the exam or gaining a meaningful understanding of the field. Because the of errors and the superficial nature of the questions and answer format the book would probably not be a good choice or medical students or residents early in their otolaryngology training. That said, I found the book does a good job of covering the topics on the exam and I found it useful for identifying areas that I should read more about in other sources.

Review by Sue Rai for Otolaryngology and Facial Plastic Surgery Board Review: Pearls of Wisdom, Second Edition
Rating:
great review book — has bullets for quick question/answers to test yourself both for the inservice annual exam and for the boards. only downside is it has a lot of minutiae that seems irrelevant at times.