Published by Churchill Livingstone (Elsevier Australia), 2011. ISBN 9780729539623. Contains 338 pages.Examination Intensive Care was first published in 2006 and ever since has been a core text for Australian and New Zealand trainees attempting to pass the final Fellowship in Intensive Care Medicine. The publication of the 2nd edition reflects many of the changes that have affected our specialty over the last few years. The most obvious change is that the "...& anaesthesia" has been dropped from the title. This omission reflects the current spirit of independence that permeates throughout critical care in Australia and New Zealand. Where anaesthesia chapters once reigned (anaesthesia made up 23% of the 1st edition) information on the new Intensive Care Primary and overseas ICU examinations (European and United Kingdom diplomas) fill the void. The book therefore seems to be attempting to appeal to ICU trainees throughout their whole training journey and in a broad range of examination jurisdictions. The book also contains the now ubiquitous accompanying DVD containing many hidden extras. The first part of the book covers generic training and exam preparation. Chapter 1 describes the examination structures of some of the popular ICU examinations throughout the world. I am unsure what purpose this serves other than documenting that there are several ways of assessing ICU examination candidates. Chapter 2 covers exam technique right down to nutritional advice and travel tips. I think this chapter will be skim-read or bypassed altogether by many trainees. It does however remind us that becoming a hermit and reading academic tombs are not necessarily a guarantee of exam success. The second part of the book focuses on the basic sciences. The physiology, pharmacology, physics and statistical knowledge required are normally gleaned from the bowels of several weighty textbooks. The book attempts to cover these gargantuan topics in a mere 42 pages and the authors concede that they really only skim the surface. I suggest that this chapter would be most useful to someone who has covered the topics in detail at least once and needs some last minute revision. The third part of the book is the business end of the book and focuses on passing the final fellowship examination of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand (FCICM). Chapter 4 and 5 cover equipment and procedural skills respectively. These chapters attempt to describe the multitude of equipment and practical procedures a practising Intensivist should be familiar with. The accompanying DVD certainly complements these short chapters. Despite this, the book really just scratches the surface and describes a clear approach to equipment and procedural issues that still rely on a trainee examining patients and thinking about equipment lying around a typical department. Chapter 6 is data interpretation and covers radiology, biochemistry and ventilator waveforms in great detail. I found this chapter invaluable in the First Edition and I still refer to it about once a month when I need reminding of one of those pesky rules or disease patterns. The updated version expands its focus on ECHO and introduces newer topics such as thromboelastography. I was very disappointed to see that the excellent microbiology section has been completely dropped from the Second Edition, as this is weak subject for many trainees. Problem-focused-clinical-examination of a critically ill patient in an ICU is the most feared and yet arguably the most relevant part of the FCICM exam. The First Edition was the first real attempt, by a book, to tell you how to approach this part of the exam. The Second Edition again spends a lot of time advising approaches to this part of the exam and I found the "flow-man" diagrams particularly useful and a few more of these would have been helpful. The paediatric section covers the final 10% of the book and is crammed full of facts, techniques and reducing font size. It covers a lot in a short space of time, would serve an adult FCICM candidate well and would be a great start for a budding paediatric ICU doctor. The final part of the book is housed within the accompanying DVD. It contains chapter supplements, data interpretation and advice on clinical cases. I really liked the pharmacology quiz, but it seemed like an afterthought and other quizzes would have been great. I found the "useful resources" section particularly useful as it contained a multitude of links to several key online ICU resources. This section would act as a great starting block for a trainee to formulation a very personal revision plan. Overall this book represents an essential part of any ICU library and I would be surprised if any current FCICM candidates go through the final exam without referring to one of theExamination Intensive Care series. My main criticism of the text is that I think it is attempting to be too broad. Its core audience is still the final FCICM candidates, but European Diploma, CICM primary and Paediatric Intensivists will still find the structured, systematic and succinct approach a great supporting revision aid. David Knight Intensive Care Specialist Department of Intensive Care Christchurch Hospital Christchurch New Zealand

Published by Churchill Livingstone (Elsevier Australia), 2011. ISBN 9780729539623. Contains 338 pages.Examination Intensive Care was first published in 2006 and ever since has been a core text for Australian and New Zealand trainees attempting to pass the final Fellowship in Intensive Care Medicine. The publication of the 2nd edition reflects many of the changes that have affected our specialty over the last few years. The most obvious change is that the "...& anaesthesia" has been dropped from the title. This omission reflects the current spirit of independence that permeates throughout critical care in Australia and New Zealand. Where anaesthesia chapters once reigned (anaesthesia made up 23% of the 1st edition) information on the new Intensive Care Primary and overseas ICU examinations (European and United Kingdom diplomas) fill the void. The book therefore seems to be attempting to appeal to ICU trainees throughout their whole training journey and in a broad range of examination jurisdictions. The book also contains the now ubiquitous accompanying DVD containing many hidden extras. The first part of the book covers generic training and exam preparation. Chapter 1 describes the examination structures of some of the popular ICU examinations throughout the world. I am unsure what purpose this serves other than documenting that there are several ways of assessing ICU examination candidates. Chapter 2 covers exam technique right down to nutritional advice and travel tips. I think this chapter will be skim-read or bypassed altogether by many trainees. It does however remind us that becoming a hermit and reading academic tombs are not necessarily a guarantee of exam success. The second part of the book focuses on the basic sciences. The physiology, pharmacology, physics and statistical knowledge required are normally gleaned from the bowels of several weighty textbooks. The book attempts to cover these gargantuan topics in a mere 42 pages and the authors concede that they really only skim the surface. I suggest that this chapter would be most useful to someone who has covered the topics in detail at least once and needs some last minute revision. The third part of the book is the business end of the book and focuses on passing the final fellowship examination of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand (FCICM). Chapter 4 and 5 cover equipment and procedural skills respectively. These chapters attempt to describe the multitude of equipment and practical procedures a practising Intensivist should be familiar with. The accompanying DVD certainly complements these short chapters. Despite this, the book really just scratches the surface and describes a clear approach to equipment and procedural issues that still rely on a trainee examining patients and thinking about equipment lying around a typical department. Chapter 6 is data interpretation and covers radiology, biochemistry and ventilator waveforms in great detail. I found this chapter invaluable in the First Edition and I still refer to it about once a month when I need reminding of one of those pesky rules or disease patterns. The updated version expands its focus on ECHO and introduces newer topics such as thromboelastography. I was very disappointed to see that the excellent microbiology section has been completely dropped from the Second Edition, as this is weak subject for many trainees. Problem-focused-clinical-examination of a critically ill patient in an ICU is the most feared and yet arguably the most relevant part of the FCICM exam. The First Edition was the first real attempt, by a book, to tell you how to approach this part of the exam. The Second Edition again spends a lot of time advising approaches to this part of the exam and I found the "flow-man" diagrams particularly useful and a few more of these would have been helpful. The paediatric section covers the final 10% of the book and is crammed full of facts, techniques and reducing font size. It covers a lot in a short space of time, would serve an adult FCICM candidate well and would be a great start for a budding paediatric ICU doctor. The final part of the book is housed within the accompanying DVD. It contains chapter supplements, data interpretation and advice on clinical cases. I really liked the pharmacology quiz, but it seemed like an afterthought and other quizzes would have been great. I found the "useful resources" section particularly useful as it contained a multitude of links to several key online ICU resources. This section would act as a great starting block for a trainee to formulation a very personal revision plan. Overall this book represents an essential part of any ICU library and I would be surprised if any current FCICM candidates go through the final exam without referring to one of theExamination Intensive Care series. My main criticism of the text is that I think it is attempting to be too broad. Its core audience is still the final FCICM candidates, but European Diploma, CICM primary and Paediatric Intensivists will still find the structured, systematic and succinct approach a great supporting revision aid. David Knight Intensive Care Specialist Department of Intensive Care Christchurch Hospital Christchurch New Zealand