A new book from Walter Jean, MD, professor of neurological surgery at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, seeks to show residents and medical students not only what neurosurgeons do, but more important, how neurosurgeons think.
“Skull Base Surgery: Strategies” is the first book of its kind, said Jean. In contrast to other texts, especially in the area of neurosurgery, which guide readers through the building blocks of the specialty, Jean published a book aimed mainly at residents and medical students showing the decision-making processes neurosurgeons work through.
“A book like this didn’t exist,” he said. “But this is how we teach residents and medical students face-to-face. We present them with real-life scenarios and then ask how they would handle it.”
The text follows the decision-making process a neurosurgeon goes through from examining the patient in clinic, to developing a surgical plan of action, to operation and postoperative evaluation. Each chapter is followed by perspectives that provide differing viewpoints, recognizing that every surgeon has a set of unique skills, experience, and previous complications, explained Jean.
“Similar to soldiers going to battle, neurosurgeons need to be prepared to make quick decisions to protect their patients,” he explained. Within the book’s pages, experienced neurosurgeons guide readers through the process of choosing and executing a surgical approach through firsthand experience from the battlefield.
“Skull Base Surgery: Strategies” features contributors from every continent around the world, making it a global and “borderless book.” It is published by Thieme Medical Publishers and has reached No. 1 on Amazon’s list of New Neurosurgery Titles. The book is available on Kindle and through a web-based platform, which includes videos.
