Most registrars get a bag from their surgery. A few do not and every registrar would need to buy one when they finish training.

There are many, many bags around. All one needs to do is go the website of medisave or wms or pottertons and you should find one that suits your need. They start from £80 and go upto £400+.

I have bought a bag recently and am posting it's review here. I bought if from the BMA medical supplies website and got it for £ 136 including VAT.
These are a few pictures of the bag.

First impressions: I like it. It is not very posh, made of polyester but is very light weight(1.5kg) and quite practical.













Update (9/10/09) : It has survived 2 months of visits. No scratches as yet. My only gripe so far is that it is prone to falls when placed vertically.

Tags: doctors bag

This is a unique book in that I haven't found another book on this topic. This is related to GP locums only and the information would be relevant to any GP but most to a GP Registrar in the final few months of their training ( ...me ! ).

It covers all areas imaginable like finding locum work, running own business, setting rates, booking advice, invoices, tax and NI, expenses, insurance, pensions, practicalities of locum work and a few useful links. It can be bought from the author's website. A lot of useful resources are downloadable free of charge from the website. The website is also a good place to find locums with offers coming straight to your phone message inbox or email.

Pros :
1. Unique book
2. Very comprehensive in what it seeks to do
3. Useful website ( though do not have to buy the book for that)

Cons:
1. I feel it does not do full justice to a few topics. One is given a superficial feel of the topic and then guided to the relevant link / authority
2. Paper quality not up to the mark for £25 it costs

In summary, I have no regret in buying this book. Saves a lot of valuable time. In this day and age of online resources ( such as this website), it is good to have a real book one can carry and read in the train or elsewhere!

Tags: gp locums,

I am currently using this book as my preparation for the exam. It is quite new and is based on the new exam as opposed to some rehashed books from the old exam.

Good points :
1. Covers most of the curriculum
2. Handy speciality index (so can do questions in one speciality together)
3. Exam style papers (for real practice)
4. Links to NICE guidelines

Not so good points:
1. Not very different from older MRCGP MCQ books
2. Only MCQs and EMQs (no flowsheet style questions)
3. Minimal explanation for some answers
4. Expensive (not unique to this book...I still can't understand the logic of paying £25 for a revision book....got mine from my medical library)

Tags: akt, nmrcgp

Used by a colleague who took the exam in October 2007 and I myself am using it for my CSA in Feb 2009. Very detailed, with multiple case scenarios.

Note: This review is for the first edition of this book, which came out 8 days before the first ever CSA in October 2007. A new version is out as well ( Green in color ) with a DVD. I have seen 3 DVD consultations. They are presented without any feedback and I guess we are meant to discuss amongst ourselves as to what was good and what was not. Recommended for group viewing as opposed to self viewing.

The book is divided into 3 sections...CSA, CBD and Concepts.

CSA section starts with a 10 page introduction to CSA. This is followed by 41 cases that incorporate varied scenarios. Each case gives a structured approach to each case, with enough (sometimes more than enough) data. There is a very useful Additional Information section that gives links to various supporting papers, journals and website addresses. A few cases are too long ( CSA is for 10 minutes / case). For example, there is a case of a man with Gout and the case suggests discussing Gout, Metabolic Syndrome and abnormal LFTs all in a 10 minute consultation. I feel there is too much mentioned in some cases. The range of topics is good and the ifo given for the actor is useful. If you can find someone to practise with, this should be useful. In short, a very good book for the CSA.

CBD section too includes an introuction, followed by 10 CBDs. I have yet to go through these and will give a more detailed review on this later.

The final section of the book deals with useful topics like consultation models, EBM, Clinical Governance, etc.

Tags: csa, nmrcgp