This story was last edited Nov. 14, 2006 at 4:10 p.m.

by Carla Saavedra-Santiago

OU-COM students don’t have to leaf through unwieldy textbooks for answers when their preceptors hand them X-rays and ask, “What do you see?”

That’s because they should have The Radiology Handbook: A Pocket Guide to Medical Imaging, the second book in the White Coat Pocket Guide Series, which was specifically conceived as a quick reference guide to general questions about radiology. The book’s author, Jeffrey Benseler, D.O., who is board certified in diagnostic radiology, sympathized with the difficulty medical students were having trying to find a good introductory textbook to radiology. So, with Dean Jack Brose, D.O., as his editor, Benseler, an associate professor of radiology, decided to write The Radiology Handbook.

“There are a lot of books for interns and for those further along in their training, but there aren’t that many for those who have had no experience in radiology,” Benseler says.

The White Coat Pocket Guides are meant to be practical guides to specific areas of medicine for medical students, interns and residents. The first book in the series The Guide to EKG Interpretation was authored by Brose and is meant to be used by anyone who interprets electrocardiograms (EKGs).

When writing the book, Benseler’s main goal was to make it quick and easy to read while communicating the very basics of radiology to students. To help keep his handbook clear and concise, Benseler utilized the same format that Brose used for the first book. To make the guides more convenient, Brose thought that all of the books should be more graphic based and pocket-sized, enabling students to carry around the books in the pockets of their white coats.

“We wanted to keep words to a minimum and maximize the images and examples in it,” says Brose. If it’s two in the morning, a student shouldn’t be expected just sit down and start reading as if it’s two in the afternoon.

The Radiology Handbook is divided into three parts. The first part consists of ordering schemes, which are quick references to what tests should be ordered under different scenarios. The second part of the book explains “how things work and why they work,” Benseler says. The third part is a self test about information in the book.

“Students need to take several board exams before they can become a licensed physician. The third part of the book is meant to be a practice in preparation for those exams,” Benseler says.

Although he is not planning on writing another book in the series, Benseler wants to collaborate with Brose to produce a CD or PDF. “X-ray interpretation and EKG interpretation are fundamental skills for medical students and residents. It would be extremely valuable to pair these resources in one reference for them,” says Brose.

Two places you can find The Radiology Handbook: A Pocket Guide to Medical Imaging are The Little Professor Bookstore in Athens or Amazon.com.