Rapid Review Anesthesiology Oral Boards

This is a great resource for oral board prep. Small enough to bring into OR or even read during your breaks. It shouldn’t be the only resource that you use, but it’s definitely a must read.

Having just taken and passed my ABA oral board examination in March 2020, I highly recommend this book as your primary study source for this test. I thought I’d have a tough time preparing for the oral boards due to my pain background but this text made it painless. The book is super high yield; Dr. Gupta and his coauthors efficiently teach the language of the oral board examiners with their concise question stems which cover most of the must-know cases in various organ systems and patient populations. For example, the pediatrics chapter had rock solid stems for CDH, TEF, and TOF cases. As you read the book, you’ll find yourself becoming more confident with your answers and picking up on HY concepts which you forgot or never learned. As far as my study schedule, I picked up this book 3 months prior to my test and read it 3x.In summary, this book an excellent primary source for studying for the ABA SOE.

It's an interesting option few days before taking the oral board, although it does not surrogate a complete, detailed anesthesia book. It makes you be wary of important topics.

I liked that you could carry this book around from OR to OR. Not comprehensive but the answer and question format helps you prepare for oral boards. Had some nice pearls in and was an easy read. Would be a good supplement to a more comprehensive book like "knocking out the boards."

Excellent book. I really think if you know the material in this book including how to answer each type of question, you are golden. Dr Gupta is the master of the oral board. Having worked with him personally, I can say that this book is a close second to working with him in real life. Very inclusive of all the key concepts, easy to read, cuts out the unnecessary minutia. Remember this exam is a test of decision making, not minutia! Good luck preparing. Do yourself a favor and buy this oral board bible. Cheers.Dr Frank

The cases and questions are extremely high yield and it’s extremely easy to read. However, some answers are too conservative (you don’t do awake fiber optic intubation or place an A-line or central line for every case!) or have typos. Overall 4.5 stars.

I am writing this as a board certified anesthesiologist helping a recently graduated resident prepare for his oral board exam.I believe the breadth and depth of topic coverage is sufficient to be successful on the exam.Further, the manner or style in which the questions are answered mimics what is expected of examinees. In other words it models how to translate your knowledge into a concise and meaningful response.Also, the length of the book should allow mastery of the contents.

If you are looking for another book of oral board practice questions in order to practice your presentation skills then this book is probably for you.HOWEVER, if you are buying this book with the intent of reviewing or relearning information you may have forgotten then do yourself a favor and get a better resource. This book is chock full of errors. For example one patient starts a TURP surgery with a serum sodium in the normal range. By the time he hits PACU his serum sodium is 115 and he’s symptomatic. I kid you not, the author says not to raise the serum sodium more than 0.5 meq/L/hr because you might cause central pontine myolinolysis! How on earth does something like that end up in a board review book? HEY AUTHOR! Quick note for you… please google how fast it is safe to correct ACUTE HYPONATREMIA!!! In case anybody out there is wondering, the answer is not 0.5 meq/L/hr in a symptomatic patient with hyponatremia <<<<48 hours.I could go on with more examples of big time mistakes in this book but the list is long and I think you get the point.