The 3 Basic Anesthesiology Books You Have to Choose From

The 3 Basic Anesthesiology Books You Have to Choose From

You are exited to get started on your way towards learning the craft of anesthesiology.  You can’t wait to get into the operating room (OR) and start doing really learning how to provide anesthesia to real patients.

When you put Anesthesia Books into the search page of amazon.com you see a whole slew of books.  There are books about anesthesia, nurse anesthesia, OB anesthesia, regional anesthesia and the list goes on.  Where do you start?

I am going to assume you have already checked out our book Anesthesia Made Easy.  This book will get you started in the right direction.  Now that you are looking for something that is a little more in depth, but not something that will go too deep too fast or put you to sleep.  (Pun intended.)

 

Which book you should not get? 

Choose a book you will actually read.  Do not buy a book that will sit on your desk (or in your Kindle) that will not be read.  You need to spend some time and read these books so that you can put the information to use in the OR.  It might make you feel better just having these books, but spend some time and dig into reading them.

Should You Get More than One?

I would start with just one basic book and read it.  Each one presents the material in a little different way.  Find one that you enjoy reading and go for it.  What you need is a basic anesthesia text which will help you continue your training and help you prepare for your anesthesia examinations.  Currently, there are three to choose from.

Introducing the 3 Basic Anesthesiology Books 

Clinical Anesthesia Fundamentals by  Barash – When I first wrote my article on the top 7 books for trainees “Baby Barash” wasn’t in print yet.  Clinical Anesthesia Fundamentals is great starter book.  My favorite reference book for general anesthesia topics is Clinical Anesthesia because I personally feel that it is easier to read for long periods of time than Miller Anesthesia.  Baby Barash flows much like th big reference Barash, and is well organized. It is available as paperback or Kindle.

 

The book called Morgan and Mikhail’s Clinical Anesthesiology is my favorite basic anesthesia book.  It is well written, and easy to pickup and read when you have some down time.  I used M&M during my anesthesia training to learn the basics and to prepare for my In-Training Exam (ITE) and my boards.  It makes it easy to look up information you need quickly and can be read for long periods of time.  As one Amazon reviewer stated “ … the (new) authors clearly and concisely present the material in an easily digestible format.”  This book is available in paperback and on Kindle.

Called “Baby Miller” or “Miller Light,” Basics of Anesthesia has been a staple for anesthesia trainees for generations.  I read the 4th edition cover to cover my senior year of medical school.   While is it named Basics of Anesthesia, it certainly has expanded over the years.  It is laid out a little differently than “Clinical Anesthesia,” but it is a basic anesthesia book that will serve you well.  It truly is a classic.  Basics of Anesthesia is available as a hardback, and on Kindle.

 

 

Which One Do You Choose?

That is up to you.  Your anesthesia school or training program might choose one of these have a required text, so choose that one.  That is the textbook where the question will come from.   Anesthesia facts are anesthesia facts.  Most the information will be the same with a little variation on the ranges of drug doses or how something is presented.  It makes sense to start with the required text, then move on.

If I had to choose one, I would choose Clinical Anesthesia Fundamentals by Barash or Morgan and Mikhail’s Clinical Anesthesiology.  It seems as though others on Amazon agree with me as well.

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