A visual summary for medical students and physicians

Mindmaps in ophthalmology.

Abhishek Sharma. CRC Press, 2015 (367 pp, £52.99). ISBN 9781482230635

A mind map is a graphical organisation of ideas, a “visual thinking tool” for structuring information, which psychologist Tony Buzan (www.tonybuzan.com) has claimed improves memory and understanding.

In Mindmaps in ophthalmology, Abhishek Sharma, a medical and surgical retinal specialist at the Queensland Eye Institute, uses this technique to “provide an overview of clinical ophthalmology” problems. Sharma wrote the book during his training for Fellowship of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, and there is no comparable publication.

Ideas are arranged in “spider charts”, with the problem in the centre of the page and deductions spreading out radially in a hierarchical relationship. Moreover, the branches are colour coded for better identification of the flow. When a provisional diagnosis is reached at the edge of the page, a new page is started with this in the centre for investigations and then another for treatment options. For example, optic nerve dysfunction on page 81 covers examination. If there is optic nerve swelling, the reader has to go to page 87 for possible diagnoses and to subsequent pages for investigation and treatment of the diagnosis. This differs from flow charts, which are linear, in that mind maps encourage exploration of many possible alternatives.

Mindmaps in ophthalmology is a useful summary or revision tool for students and ophthalmologists; however, it must be used in conjunction with conventional textbooks, which give deeper understanding of the topics.