Hi, seems like this topic hasn't been updated a whole lot since 2007. I will be starting a Gen Surg residency in 1.5 months (so soon!) and just wanted to get an idea of what textbooks I might use. Just a warning, it’s kind of a looong post. I apologize in advance!
I read through the whole thread and have a general idea of what books are out there.
Just a little bit about what I am looking for. I would really like to get one Main textbook to read and use as a reference and have one outline format review book to kind of use as a companion to thew larger book and more for focusing on the meat of what I need to know for the AB site.
For the major book, it seems like the options out there are:
1.) Greenfield
2.) Sabiston
3.) Schwartz
4.) Cameron
Seems like Cameron is more clinically oriented and not the best one to use as an intern just starting out. So, that leaves (Greenfield, Sabiston, and Schwartz). Unfortunately I won’t have access to a library with these books for the next few weeks.
I see some books listed as being more or less basic science heavy. What exactly does that mean? More review of anatomy and physiology? More nitty gritty detail on molecular pathways/ genetics? More on pathophysiology? Also, dumb question, but what are the full titles of the above texts? Did a Google search and came up with several different books with same/ similar titles and authors…
The texts that I really enjoyed during med school where those that explained in a logical fashion the pathogenesis of a disease process and also how the disease process resulted in the observed clinical signs/ symptoms. A lot of texts give the what, but are lacking in the why. For anyone who has used Medium Robbins or Goljan's Rapid Review Pathology, 3rd edition textbooks, these are excellent examples of books that explain the why. They use physiology and pathology basics to explain why a disease develops and how each disease results in it's clinical manifestation. (ex. Chronic liver failure can result in the clinical findings of palmar erythema and spider angima because the liver normally breaks down estrogen – the resulting build up of estrogen causes vasodilation.). Brief explanations of mechanism like the above are great.
I am also looking for a book that has good overview/schematic figures, summary tables, diagrams of relevant anatomy, gross path pictures (ex. porcelain GB), and key radiology images (ex. SBO findings, UC findings, etc).
Some examples of great overview/ summary images that I have seen in other texts are shown below:
-Gallbladder disease summary (from Fordran’s GI disease):
-TB course summary (from Medium Robbins):
-Proposed/theorized mechanism of development of acute pancreatitis (from Medium Robbins):
-Summary of IBD (from Medium Robbins):
* In addition to a big text I want a review book similar to First Aid, or Step Up to Medicine that is in outline format and gives the key points/ highlights for all diseases that you need to know for the ABSite. I like using a review book to annotate info into as well. I typically use a review book like this to prevent me from not seeing the forest for the trees when I read a larger text. Sometimes I can get bogged down in the details of the larger text.
I’ve read through the various ABSite threads, but a lot of them haven’t been updated in a few years…
I’ve seen the Fiser review book mentioned, but seems like he has a bunch of AB site books out there. Which one is everyone referring to?
Also, I have seen some people mention the following in threads:
-ABSite killer
-the “black book”
-Rush review
-SESAP
Anyway, I apologize again for the long-winded post. I have a learning disability that requires some advance planning so I want to kind of have an better idea of the resources out there before July 1. Thank you in advance for any replies!