Preface

With the first-edifttion viva book we were keen to write a viva book to complement our main orthopaedic textbook.

We had a reasonable surplus of material available that we had been unable to fit into the second-edition book. We were keen to go into a more detailed, structured answer to use in the viva situation rather than just going ahead with revision bullet points. We were attempting (but perhaps not realizing at the time) to provide examples of higher-order thinking and judgment for candidates to use in their exam preparation.

We had already published two books previously and so were experienced in the ‘know how’ of ‘how to get a book done’. Like any new bookit was certainly more difficult writing from scratch, but there was no great master plan of what we wanted to achieve.

We approached a number of post FRCS (Tr & Orth) registrars who did an excellent job of taking on the task of writing the allocated book chapters. As such, the viva book came together with the minimum of fuss.

The main orthopaedic book had been the first of its kind combining all parts of the FRCS (Tr & Orth)

syllabus together in one volume. The viva book was a very different challenge in that there were lots of similar viva-type books already out on the market.

When released, the complexity within some model answers in the viva book took a while to be fully appreciated by our audience. In due course there was a realization that perhaps two or three chapters didn’t quite hit our own expected high standards. The book was published very close to similar competing titles that ended up muddying the waters. The book became something of a slow burner, but over time increased in popularity.

The exam format keeps changing, and as time went on the viva book started to age. A decision was needed as to whether to update the book or just let it go out of date. It wasn’t a difficult decision as we wanted to improve the quality of the viva book. During the intervening years the standard of FRCS (Tr &

Orth) exam books had significantly improved and we wanted to keep up with the newer titles emerging.

We also realized that the vast majority of the book was well wrift en and could be improved even further to do the bookits full justice.

The two main areas that we concentrated on were basic science and trauma. Basic science is by and large by far the most difficult subject for candidates to revise and we wanted to significantly raise the bar in this section. Trauma was becoming more subspecialized with the MTC, but candidates still needed a good working knowledge of the material. Diagrams needed to be more professionally drawn.

Although the whole exam is based on the Tr & Orth curriculum, the mechanics of the viva exam are very different to that of the MCQs and clinicals. The viva exam allows for a more formal assessment of communication skills. If you are a gifted, silver-tongued candidate with inherit tactical nous in answering viva questions that’s great, but most candidates needsome guidance.

A standardized method of approach to answering a viva question needs to be learnt and thoroughly practised to avoid mishaps.

We hope the book realizes its aim of moving the material up a level and that it will guide you better in your exam preparation. Again, like all books of the Postgraduate Orthopaedics book series we make no claim to the originality of the material. We are distilling orthopaedic knowledge from the wider orthopaedic community specifically for exam-related subjects. We have attempted to acknowledge our sources wherever possible and our sincere apologies if we have inadvertently missed anyone out.

We thank Cambridge University Press for all their patience and advice with the project, again remembering that the grass is still not greener elsewhere.

Overall, we are generally happy with the end result. We could have continued writing material for another year and still not be finished, as the Tr & Orth curriculum is vast. Some of the chapters are very specialized and candidates may struggle to find similar information on the internet, but this material somehow still gets asked by the ICB. If the basic science or general adult pathology answer to the question is unGoogleable but we have managed to provide for a model answer, then we have mostly succeeded in what we wanted to achieve.

This book was much more difficult to write than the first edition and didn’t come together all that easily. We were surprised by this and went through a few Peroni tests to get there! Will we write a third-edition viva book? Never say never, but probably not!

Paul Banaszkiewicz