Benjamin Kamel, DPM's Review of ACFAOM Review Text in Podiatric Orthopedics and Medicine (3rd Edition)

Benjamin Kamel, DPM
 Chief Resident, Chino Valley Medical Center PMSR/RRA
 Chino, CA
 Clinical Faculty, Western University of Health Sciences
 Pomona, CA

The newly released 3rd Edition of this book serves two functions: as an updated reference text for those sitting for certification examinations, and as a quick reference in the office.

For that reason, I will separate the review into two sections. I will first look at this book in the eyes of a candidate sitting for a certification examination. With twenty-three comprehensive chapters, and nearly 500 pages of information, this book reviews and covers most, if not all topics that are included in the ABPM and the ABFAS board exams. At the end of each chapter, the authors provide an average of 20-30 questions that review the most important content in the chapter. There is a total of 565 questions for the entire book. The questions are about a 15%/85% mixture of case-based questions and traditional multiple-choice questions. As a comparable reference, Boards by the Numbers (certifiable.com) provides 825 multiple-choice questions with seventeen foot Computer Based Patient Simulation (CBPS) cases, and BoardVitals (boardvitals.com) has 700 multiple-choice questions and no CBPS cases.

Each chapter is well organized with an appropriate amount of good quality pictures, radiographs, and charts to supplement the core material. The format of each chapter is in a bullet point highly efficient outlined format with multiple subsections, and accurately labeled tables to supplement the material. Each chapter is written by different physicians, all of whom have excellent credentials as experts in chapter topics they have written. For the purposes of a review text to prepare for the boards, it seems more appropriate for the text to be in this format than a traditional narrative textbook. In my opinion, it makes for a better review, rather than feeling like you are reading a novel or a textbook from school.

As a reference guide in a practitioner’s clinic or library, this book can serve as a great resource. The content is well organized with twenty-three all-inclusive and comprehensive chapters covering podiatry pertinent fields of medicine, laboratory medicine, podiatric medicine, trauma, surgical considerations, and pharmacology. The content is clear and organized and easy to search within a topic of interest by searching the table of context for the specific topic you wish to review. However, the book does not have an index. If you are looking for a specific word to find the page number, it may just take a little longer to search it by using the chapter topics.

As a resident, I constantly need to review all topics of medicine and podiatric medicine as well as prepare for upcoming examinations. I find this book to be a great resource to keep me sharp and up to date on the knowledge I need to be a competent podiatric physician.

I find this book to be a great resource to keep me sharp and up to date on the knowledge I need to be a competent podiatric physician.

Often the hardest part about preparing to study for a board examination is knowing where to start. What is your study plan? Do you prefer digital or hardcopy? If you prefer studying with a highly outlined and well-organized book or digital version which includes practice questions, you will want to consider using this review text. We all know there are many textbooks available, but there are few that gather all the pertinent information in as nicely a condensed yet comprehensive outlined format as this review text does.

We all know there are many textbooks available, but there are few that gather all the pertinent information in as nicely a condensed yet comprehensive outlined format as this review text does.