"For anyone who feels they are competent at reading twelve lead ECGs this would be good for sharpening your skills of diagnosis, or even as a refresher. I think this is the best read and best buy of John Hampton s three books on the ECG, the others being The ECG Made Easy and The ECG in Practice as the recordings are presented in random order and the readers interest should be maintained throughout. The tracings are all graded for difficult; medical student, house officer, paramedic or nurse, and MRCP standard. Each twelve lead ECG in this book has a case history, and the answers are brief but to the point; listing ECG features, clinical interpretation, and importantly What to do . With a minimal amount of text and plenty of recordings this is good value if you have grasped the basics as in The ECG Made Easy . This book will act as a handy pocket reference with its comprehensive index as all the recordings are cross referenced with The ECG Made Easy and The ECG in Practice . An enjoyable and challenging book for most health care workers."Review on Amazon.co.uk
electrocardiogram (ECG) can be a great leveller in medicine. It is common to see various combinations of medical students, nurses, junior doctors and specialists huddled around an ECG, debating what it shows. With his latest pocket sized text, John Hampton succeeds in further demystifying what in theory should be a relatively basic medical skill but in the real world sometimes proves to be quite the opposite.
One hundred ECGs are shown, each with a brief clinical vignette and a management question. On the next page salient features of the ECG are described, followed by a clinical interpretation and brief discussion about the management of the condition described. Each ECG abnormality is also cross referenced to the author s
well known previous texts The ECG made easy and The ECG in practice.
The strengths of Professor Hampton s book are many. The combination of a brief history and clinically relevant question not only challenges the reader to give extra thought to the interpretation, but also makes the learning process far more enjoyable. The ECGs are randomly arranged rather than being grouped together according to the disease process or rhythm abnormality they represent, mirroring the manner in which medical personnel are confronted with ECGs in their day to day practice (or examination hall). Each ECG is also rated to indicate the degree of difficulty, allowing readers to make a rough self assessment of their level of competence.
Although limited by the physical dimensions of the book, the clarity of the tracings is generally excellent, and the spectrum of ECGs shown (from normal variants through to a few clinical rarities) is a good representation of the problems encountered in current medical practice.
Rather than being a reference text, 100 ECG problems is primarily designed to be a revision tool for students at all levels preparing for examinations through to more experienced clinicians wanting to refresh and test their knowledge. By combining basic principles of electrophysiology with commonly encountered conditions,
Professor Hampton has managed to turn what can often be a somewhat dry and daunting task into one that is both challenging and interesting."Review in Medical Journal of Australia
