Imperial GP Textbook wins BMA Book Award

Congratulations to Dr Carol Cooper, Dr Graham Easton, and Margaret Harper from the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London who, along with Paul Booton from SGUL, won First Prize in the Primary Health Care Section of the 2013 BMA Book Awards for their text book “General Practice at a Glance”. As well as the four editors, there were 21 other Imperial GP Teachers (either college staff or honorary teachers) who contributed at least one chapter to the book. The BMA Medical Book Awards take place annually to recognise outstanding contributions to the medical literature. More than 640 books were entered for the awards this year with prizes awarded in 21 categories. The judging panel awards prizes on the basis of books’ applicability to audience, production quality and originality. Prizes were presented by Professor Steve Field, Deputy National Medical Director of Health Inequalities NHS England.

“We wanted to write a really useful text book that reflected our experience of real general practice – in other words not simply a “dumbed-down” version of hospital management. It’s about the unique approach of general practice; where GPs deal with the whole range of unsorted medical problems, manage risk, and rely heavily on focused clinical skills. It’s based on evidence, and on the common presentations we see every week in practice – patients don’t complain of ‘COPD’ or ‘heart failure’ – they say they are ‘breathless’. We also wanted to include the relevant ‘red flags’ – the symptoms or signs GPs absolutely don’t want to miss. We hope it will be useful for medical students on their GP attachments or as a revision guide; but also for foundation and specialist trainees in general practice and other clinical staff, as a concise summary of clinical primary care.”
Dr Graham Easton, Senior Teaching Fellow.

2013 BMA Medical Book Awards Review:
"I think it is a fantastic book. I will be recommending it to medical students and other GP registrars. It is a lovely summary of general practice. The authors are obviously very experienced and have managed to distil the real ‘need to know’ facts in a highly reader friendly and engaging way. I would recommend every practice should have a copy of this text. Medical students will find it really useful for exam revision and not just during a GP placement. It’s a really reader-friendly, clear book. It does not scrimp on the medical facts or lose anything by being so slim and lightweight. I think it is priced perfectly for its intended market. The diagrams and illustrations are particularly good and relevant: it’s an excellent revision text for students. It is very difficult to pick out any weaknesses based on its intended audience. I was thoroughly impressed with this book. I though from the style it was going to be a little too basic but it certainly is not. Particularly noteworthy are the illustrations which are highly relevant and clear. The inclusion of photographs makes this text stand out from other similar texts on the market. A far more engaging and informative read than other stodgy textbooks on the same topic. I would have no hesitation in recommending this to medical and GP registrars."