Book excerpt: Intensive care medicine is a dynamic and evolving specialty, requiring its practitioners to be part physician, physiologist and anaesthetist. This requires a firm foundation of knowledge and an ability to apply this to the clinical situation. This book contains 270 multiple-choice questions allowing self-assessment of the breadth of knowledge required of the modern intensivist. The book is divided into three papers each consisting of 60 multiple true false (MTF) and 30 single best answer (SBA) questions covering areas including resuscitation, diagnosis, disease management, organ support, and ethical and legal aspects of practice. The MTF questions test factual knowledge and understanding of the evidence base underpinning intensive care medicine, while the SBA questions test the ability of the candidate to prioritise, compete options and make the best decision for the patient. Each question is peer reviewed and accompanied by concise and detailed explanatory notes with references to guide further reading. All the authors are practising intensive care physicians with firsthand experience of professional examinations in the specialty. This book will appeal to intensive care physicians approaching professional examinations worldwide, including the European Diploma, American Board and Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine examinations. In addition, it will appeal to intensive care nurses and allied healthcare professionals wishing to update their knowledge as part of continuing professional development, and to physicians sitting professional examinations in related specialties requiring knowledge of intensive care medicine such as general medicine, general surgery and anaesthesia. This new book will complement the existing international best-selling title ‘Multiple Choice Questions in Intensive Care Medicine’ (ISBN 978 1 903378 64 9), also written by Dr Steve Benington.