Volume 27 Number 2

Publisher: Therapeutic Guidelines, Melbourne, Victoria

Reviewer: Dr Oliver Ash, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia

The therapeutic guidelines (TG) have provided an intuitive, logical framework for clinicians for 35 years on a range of topics. Its independent and evidence-based treatment guidelines have provided the basis for my personal prescribing habits from antibiotics to anti-hypertensives. The second edition of the Therapeutic Guidelines: Ulcer and Wound Management continues this tradition in providing a concise yet thorough guide for wound management. Writing as a junior doctor, the current edition of the TG provided a simple yet complete foundation to wound diagnosis and management for the inexperienced clinician. 

Although likely to be used as a reference book, the Ulcer and Wound Management TG follows a logical progression, beginning with foundations of the examination and diagnosis of wounds, providing a basis for much of the subsequent, more specific information that follows. Wounds and ulcers are topics many clinicians, even those who deal with them frequently are mystified by. Junior doctors are often faced with wounds on the wards and in the clinics, and I know personally that these interactions are often associated with a feeling of dread. Much of this is due to the complexity and uncertainty of their management; wound management is something that is covered poorly, if at all by medical schools. The Ulcer and Wound Management TG demystifies some of this complexity, through approachable and practical advice. 

The book contains 18 chapters with a clear index that allows one to skip directly to the topic of interest, helpful when looking for information I need quickly, for example at the bedside or during a consultation. There are also links to related information. Chapters include the high-risk foot, venous ulcers, arterial ulcers and surgical wounds. Chapters provide useful adjunctive elements of pictures and tables. Pictures provide additional insight into what is a visually oriented area of medicine. Example images are provided for wound features, helpfully identifying archetypical features and aiding in the identification and diagnosis in the patient. My favourite features are the very helpful flow diagrams, which provide an excellent framework for evaluation and diagnosis. One example, the table “Overview of appropriate wound dressings based on wound characteristics (Table 15.11)” provides a basic but complete approach to dressing selection and has formed a basis for many of my dressing decisions.

As typical for TG, all management advice, when applicable, is evidence-based and chapters provided “key references”, allowing the interested party to dive deeper into the topic. As there is no in-text referencing, it is sometimes unclear whether information is evidence-based or expert opinion without examining the key references. I appreciated that there is often a discussion of emerging management options and treatments with poor evidence, allowing better clinical decision making when faced with unusual, new or non-evidence-based management options. 

This book has broad appeal as a text useful for the medical student, junior clinician and general practitioner as well as allied health, nursing staff and specialists. The second edition of the Therapeutic Guidelines: Ulcer and Wound Management is a useful text for a clinician involved in the care of wounds, providing a concise and evidence-based foundation for common and typical wound presentations. The authors and editors should be applauded for their ability to distil a broad and complex topic into a manageable pocket guide. 

Author(s)

Reviewed by: Dr Oliver Ash, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia