Get my book for free!

Dear Friend,

This week, it was amazing to see that my book was being promoted by  Cardiff MedSoc at their freshers’ fare. If you are a medical student at UCL, you might also see my book this weekend at your freshers’ fare. 

Seeing the success of this book really helps give me motivation to continue writing book 2. The second book is designed to complete the rest of the medical syllabus not covered in book 1 – including specialties such as obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics and dermatology. As I have a weekend off from work and socialising, I have started making progress in book 2. 

Whilst my book is available to buy on Amazon, I understand that going to university can be an expensive time and often disposable income may be limited. That is why this week, I wanted to offer a tip in how you might be able to get my book for free – this is what I used to do when I was at University.

Ask your library to order the book

Every medical school has a library attached to it. Similarly, every university will have it’s main library. In Cambridge, they went one step further, where every college had a library too – in total there were over 100 libraries. 

Many libraries are stocked with books that have not been read in years. Libraries also get educational discounts when purchasing books, as they can buy them in bulk directly from the publisher.

Therefore, when I was at university and wanted a book, I would simply email the librarian to order the book in. And they would never have an issue with this – as long as it was obvious that the book was related to your course. The only downside is that with it being a library book, I wasn’t able to highlight bits and annotate it. However, if I then really liked the book and I had saved up enough money, I could then buy it outright. 

This is the information to provide to your librarian:

Title – The Revision Guide to Core Clinical Medicine

Publisher – World Scientific Publishing

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Revision-Guide-Core-Clinical-Medicine/dp/180061487X

Your librarian can order  from Amazon or from the publisher directly by emailing [email protected]

Summary

If you are interested in getting my book this year, don’t let price be a barrier. Use all the resources at your disposal and ask your university/department library to order the book for you. Just a tip!

Drug of the week

Vemurafenib

Vemurafenib, sold under the brand name Zelboraf, is a medication used for the treatment of late-stage malignant melanoma.

Vemurafenib interrupts the B-Raf/MEK step on the B-Raf/MEK/ERK pathway − if the B-Raf has the common V600E mutation.

Vemurafenib only works in melanoma patients whose cancer has a V600E BRAF mutation (that is, at amino acid position number 600 on the B-Raf protein, the normal valine is replaced by glutamic acid).

About 60% of melanomas have this mutation.

A Brain Teaser

You are working in the oncology ward and you are called to see a patient with advanced lung cancer and bone metastases. The patient informs you that she is suffering pain. On looking at her drug kardex you see that she is prescribed 30mg of oral long acting morphine sulphate twice daily, and has received both doses today. She also takes regular paracetamol and ibuprofen.

What breakthrough dose of oramorph should you prescribe?

A: 5mg

B: 10mg 

C: 15mg

D: 20mg

E: 1mg