MCQs & EMQs in Human Physiology PDF

PREFACE

This book has now reached its sixth edition since it was first published over 30 years ago. Our aim to base the questions on generally accepted aspects of physiology most relevant to clinical practice seems to have been fulfilled - medical, dental and other health care students and doctors in specialty training in countries around the world have told us of the book's relevance and usefulness.

We have tried to cover most of the concepts and knowledge typically asked for in physiology examinations and to concentrate on the core knowledge that is essential to pass them. We believe that students who score consistently well in these questions know enough to face most examinations in physiology with confidence. By concentrating on the area where yes/no answers can be given to questions with reasonable certainty, we have had to exclude areas where knowledge is as yet conjectural and speculative. We have tried to avoid excessive detail in the way of facts and figures; those which are included are of value in medical practice. Both conventional and SI units are generally quoted. Comments on the answers are given on the reverse of each question. We hope that, with the comments, the book will provide a compact revision tutor, encouraging understanding rather than rote learning.

For most questions the common five-branch MCQ format has been used. The stem and a single branch constitute a statement to be judged True or False by the reader. Care has been taken that the statements in any question are not mutually exclusive, so five independent decisions are required to answer each question. This system has the advantage of simplicity and brevity over most other forms of multiple-choice question. In this edition, a further opportunity has been taken to prune and edit questions for greater compactness, clarity and precision and to bring in new areas of knowledge which have emerged since the last edition went to press. We have also tended to expand the comments in an effort to increase the clarity of our explanations and so add to the educational value of the self-assessment exercise.

The book is divided into sections, each section containing questions related to one of the main physiological systems of the body. They cover both basic and applied aspects of the subject. The applied questions are designed so that the answers may be deduced mainly by making use of basic physiological knowledge and should provide a link with clinical practice. There is also a section on sports and exercise physiology and one containing ‘Interpretative' questions to provide practice in the interpretation of data, diagrams and figures. A new feature in this edition is the addition of a number of Extended Matching Questions (EMQs) for each section of the book. EMQs are an alternative form of multiple-choice question where answers have to be selected from lists of options. They are becoming increasingly popular in undergraduate and postgraduate examinations.

We thank colleagues for suggesting questions and all who commented on previous editions. We continue to welcome such comments.