Memorizing medicine - Paul Bentley

Ever read up on a subject in a medical textbook, remembered it well immediately after, but several weeks later had great difficulty in recalling anything about it? Or, when treating a patient with an asthma attack, you wondered, 'Have I missed something important?' Memorizing Medicine aims to address these commonly experienced sentiments by rewriting the traditional medical textbook in a manner that places primary emphasis on recall. Drawing upon well-established psychological principles, the book uses a broad range of strategies to maximize the ability of the reader to recollect large swathes of information at a later date. The result is an original and refreshing style of textbook in which no two pages are quite alike, and where facts are presented in a hierarchical fashion so that essential features of each condition or symptom can be grasped immediately, while finer points are given in more detailed reading.

Each of the main topics in general medicine is presented as a mini-tutorial, using cartoons, hierarchies, and mnemonics, thus breaking down dense text into 'bite-size' chunks and creating a framework for effective learning, whether for clinical practice or taking exams. The mnemonics themselves have been devised to be relevant to the topic - the causes of atrial fibrillation follow a form of A.T.R.I.A.L. S.W.I.T.C.H.; the various causes of liver disease are T.A.B.O.O.S.

Memorizing Medicine can be used as a general medical textbook in its own right, or may be used as a bridge between standard textbooks and self-test revision guides. It is an invaluable revision aid and is equally suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate medical exams, as well as for any practising physician who wishes to refresh their knowledge.