[FamMed] Problem-based Approach to Family Medicine (2009)

Problem-based Approach to Family Medicine (2009 )

Price: $150

呢本係上introductory lecture時有人推薦嘅書，加上有「學生優惠」，所以我就自己親自去左灣仔佢個office度買。當然啦話咗佢係FamMed書，你就唔好當佢係內外婦兒骨乜都講得好深入啦......

This book is actually recommended to us in one of the introductory lectures, and with a "discount"! Of course as a textbook geek I went to their office in Wan Chai and bought one. As the recommended textbook, it is a compact and focused text instead of a textbook in all the specialties, so its focus is mainly on family medicine. 

本書一開頭會有啲教Evidence based medicine嘅內容，用嚟溫習返上堂學過嘅都唔錯，但係單靠佢就未必夠考Community Med用。個名都話啦係PBL呀嘛，當然就係case-based咁啦，首先就係一個case problem，之後佢會有問題，答案同埋討論。Case 包含嘅範圍都幾廣，包括內科，兒科，婦科，骨科，加少少皮膚同眼科，內容其實都幾豐富，例如有chronic cough，low back pain，hypertension，vaginal discharge等等，可惜可能因為篇幅所限， 每個topic佢都只可以約略講下，但係有啲topic都有齊history，PE，investigation同treatment，但係當然要詳細嘅就睇番果科嘅書啦。

To begin with it has some short sections on evidence based medicine, which is good for revision for Community Medicne, but itself does not stand alone as a sufficient source. Refer back to the lectures would be better. As the name suggests, it is case based approach with includes quite a wide range of topics from internal medicine, paediatrics, gynaecology, orthopaedics, dermatology and ophthalmology, for example asthma, diabetes, knee pain, red eyes etc. Quite a rich source of information, but as it is probably limited by its size, each topic is only mentioned lightly, but some of them do have a complete set of history, PE, investigations and management, and of course you should refer to the proper textbook for more details.

好處 Pros： 

• 學approach幾好
• good for learning the approach to family medicine
• 每篇完咗都會有重點learning points
• there is a summary following each case to remind you of important points discussed
• 好多常見或考試topic都會有提及
• mentioned many commonly seen or examed topics

壞處 Cons： 

• 內容雖然廣，但未必夠深，我都明白佢有篇幅所限，而作為 med 4 家庭醫學入門介紹都ok
• content not deep enough (understandable, and is probably sufficient as an introductory textbook in med 4)
• 因為課程設計問題，你做到family medicine嘅時候其實仲有一年嘅內科知識未得，亦都有可能連兒婦精神科都未讀到，所以有機會你未必會咁了解果科。
• may not be easy to understand if you still have another year of medicine to learn (plus psychiatry, paediatrics and/or gynaecology, if you happen to have family medicine in your first rotation).

推薦 Recommendation：5／10

• 唔係必需嘅一本家庭醫學入門，因為lecture都已經做到一樣效果。
• As an introduction to family medicine, not really necessary for med 4 as lectures already cover similar breadth.
• 我覺得以med 4嚟講，如果醫學知識未係最豐富（始終你仲有一年med 5），可能會有啲難明白同埋記得，但係如果你睇得晒嘅話，你應該會對家庭醫學嘅範圍有一個幾好嘅概念，咁你就可以再自己睇番相應嘅topic啦。
• For a med 4 student with insufficient medical knowledge (like myself), maybe you will find it difficult to understand completely, but I am sure if you read through it, you will have a very good idea of what the scope of family medicine is, and you can go on and read deeper on its topics.