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Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine
../../../ 1998

Reviews / Recensions

Gordon Brock, MD, CCFP

CJRM 1999;4(3):169


Advanced ECG: Boards and Beyond. Brendan B. Phibbs. 382 pp. Illust. Little Brown and Company, Boston. 1997. Price from Amazon www.amazon.com US$ 29.95. Paperbound

In his preface, the author, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Arizona, points out that reading electrocardiographs is "a basic life and death skill that's going to confront you with harrowing decisions throughout your professional life . . . but chances are that you have never had any organized formal training in it." Right on, Dr. Phibbs! Most of us (besides reading a certain orange or yellow self-teach book on rapid interpretation of ECG) were expected, as Dr. Phibbs also points out, to learn electrocardiography by osmosis from more senior residents or perhaps by inhaling the air of a CCU somewhere.

Dr. Phibbs's book is well laid-out, with 26 chapters on such topics as "Differential diagnosis of wide-beat tachycardia," "Myocardial infarction," "Atrial fibrillation," and "AV-block: where it localized and what can you do about it." Basic knowledge of the lead placements and normal waves is assumed  not a problem for us.

I enjoyed Dr. Phibbs's clear and witty writing style, his avoidance of jargon and complex language, his simple tips and "tricks," and his eschewing of complex rules that I can neither remember nor find at 3:00 am. This book is high on common sense which, as Voltaire has pointed out, is not very common (notably in books on ECG interpretation).

Faults are few: perhaps inevitable in a book such as this the relevant ECG and the discussion are not always on the same page, necessitating some page turning. There could have been mention of rapid repolarization as a normal variant. ECG reproduction is sometimes difficult, but the ECGs in this book are almost all very clear.

These faults are minor. Get a copy of this book! Read it. Chain it to your bookshelf. It'll help you at 3:00 am some day!


Gordon Brock, MD, CCFP, Regular Contributor to "Country cardiograms"

© 1999 Society of Rural Physicians of Canada