Professor Helps Write Best-Selling Emergency Medicine Textbook

Professor Helps Write Best-Selling Emergency Medicine Textbook

By Teresa JosephUA College of Medicine – Phoenix
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Dr. Stephan Stapczynski
Dr. Stephan Stapczynski
Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine
Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine

"Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine," the most widely used textbook and reference in the field of emergency medicine, is a labor of love for Dr. Stephan Stapczynski, professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix. He's been involved in writing and editing the popular book for more than 30 years and seven editions. The latest edition was published in October.

Stapczynski's hands are full – not only with revising and editing chapters of the 2,200-page book and teaching. He also is a scholarly project adviser at the college and an attending physician with the Maricopa Emergency Medicine Residency Program at Maricopa Medical Center.

His diversity in work experiences is something he encourages current and future medical students to have.

"If you want to have a long career in medicine, you have to find variety in what you do," he said. "This textbook is part of the variety that I discovered."

"Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine" was first published in 1980 by Dr. Judith Tintinalli, at a time when emergency medicine was a new field. Stapczynski was asked to write for the second edition of the textbook by the chairman of the emergency medicine department at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California. In 1984, McGraw-Hill published the second edition, which was the beginning of Stapczynski's work as a writer and editor.

"I like taking the complex or difficult-to-understand and figuring out ways to explain it in a simpler fashion," he said. "It has given me an increased body of knowledge, but also given me practice on how to explain things, which helps me when I'm teaching."

As an editor, Stapczynski researches the latest practices in emergency medicine, then updates the book's online version as new, more relevant information is released.

"I really enjoy working on the book," he said. "I learn from doing it. I enjoy reading new material, integrating different approaches, coming up with an approach and explaining complex concepts."

The seventh edition of the textbook received the British Medical Association Best Surgery Textbook of the Year and was translated into eight languages, including Turkish, Mandarin and Spanish. The latest book is endorsed by the American College of Emergency Physicians.

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