Flicking through the chapters of this emergency handbook I find my mind drifting back to a child I recently attend to who had severe, life-threatening asthma. I feel slightly tachycardic. In my mind’s eye I can see him struggling to breathe, the high-pitched hiss of the nebuliser throwing mist out around his face. I scan down the page to benchmark the advice against what I did in the real situation. I flip back to outside cover, tachycardia settling.

The cover headlines the “Emergencies” subject matter no less than four times and three of those in large red type. The book is quite thick with over 500 pages, but is neatly sized.

The inside cover details a smart system of icon alerts which prefix most of the titles and subtitles for each …