Books on rural surgery and how to get them

[fennek]

hey all!

i'm an MS4 currently. i'll be heading to rural Kenya for about 2 months next year for my electives, and will probably be with a surgical team while i'm there. a doctor i spoke to recommended that i get some textbooks for the elective, in particular, the Primary Surgery and Anaesthesia series (Oxford University Press), as i'll be expected to assist in (or even perform!) some of the procedures while i'm there.

problem is, it seems like these books were last printed in 1990, and i haven't had any luck with the local stores. i'm wondering if any of you guys know how i can get my hands on them, especially those of you who happen to have used the series yourselves at some point of your careers.

i'll appreciate if you guys could also suggest alternative books on basic surgical techniques for a student like myself. i'm extremely interested in surgery, but at the same time i don't want to be getting something that's way beyond my level since i'm not guaranteed a residency at this point in time.

cheers!

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[Winged Scapula]

Here are a couple of books you might find helpful. The first is more for ambulatory procedures, but its almost a requirement in the book arsenal of any student/resident doing a Surgery/EM/FM/IM etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-U...284111?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178980228&sr=1-12

This one is also for common bedside procedures: http://www.amazon.com/Manual-Common...049552-3284111?ie=UTF8&qid=1178980581&sr=1-19

The next book is more for actual OR procedures and is the most portable of the operative manuals: http://www.amazon.com/Surgical-Anat...3284111?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178980795&sr=8-1

I couldn't find an edition of the book your supervisor mentioned in the last 20 years; while much of the stuff is probably the same, it seems horribly outdated to use a book that old. Since the vast majority of SDN users are Americans, we don't tend to use UK books (not that they aren't valuable resources but that the schools tend to prefer home-grown authors). So I doubt you'll find someone who's used the Primary Surgery series.

As you note, its not advisable that you spend a lot of money on books that you may never use again. I would speak with your advisor again and see what his/her goal is - do they want you simply to read about potential surgeries you might see, or do they actually want you to know details about the procedures - ie, how to do them? If its the latter, that's a bit unfortunate because a) most of the books directed toward technical aspects will be far too advanced for you, using terms you won't recognize and b) as you note, if you don't get into surgical training, its a bit of a waste. Having a general surgery text is probably more useful, IMHO.