Best book for Surgery rotations

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For those of you who did Surgery rotations and took your respective shelf exams, can you tell me which worked for you. If you to pick one resource, which would you choose? I heard good things about Surgical Recall, but I heard good things about BRS Surgery and NMS Surgery as well. I also heard that Blueprints is good but too skimpy for a primary text.

What's your opinion, Dr Cox?

surgical recall is a great in itself. Blueprints can be used also as an adjunct.

I was a big fan of the Mont-Reid Surgical Handbood.

I'm not an expert in surgery like Dr. Cox, but I used Surgical Recall, Blueprints, and Mt. Reid as a med student. I think it also depends on how interested you are in the field and if you want to kick some butt on the rotation or if you just want to do a pretty good job. I got Blueprints first and then realized that it wasn't enough so I bought Surgical Recall and Mt. Reid. I think Surgical Recall and what you learn on the rotation is enough for shelf exams. If you have the time and want to go into surgery, Mt. Reid is an excellent text. If you plan to do an audition rotation because you want to do GenSurg, you may want to get Surgical Intern Pocket Survival Guide and Surgery On Call. You'll probably get them during your internship, anyway.

I read the NMS book as a 3rd year student & had Surgical Recall. As I remember, the NMS was in way too much detail for the shelf exam in surgery. Surprisingly, the surgery shelf exam is only perpipherally related to a lot of the stuff you see on the wards. I think most people are shocked @ how much physiology and general medicine topics are emphacised. Topics like nutritional deficits, congenital pediatric, & shock often pop up.

I'd agree with Stinky Tofu. Far and away, my favorite Surgical Handbook (to date) has been the Mt Reid. I leave it in the call room (as I have too much other stuff in my pockets) but carry around the Surgical Intern Pocket Survival Guide.

As for studying for exams, Surgical Recall is excellent and if you enjoy the format, Surgical Secrets (although the questions can be a bit esoteric at times). Basically anything you actually READ will serve you well. Use what works for you.

Thank you all