Learnig Anesthesia

[Perrotfish]

I have a 2 week anesthesiology rotation coming up. I have case files, but are there any other books I should be reading? Any good online resources?

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[MilkmanAl]

For a quick-hit rotation like that, Anesthesia Secrets would be great. Really, though, you could probably just do it cold since nobody will expect much of you over such a short period of time. Most of the things they'll want you to do will be skill-based (as opposed to knowledge-based), anyway. You can't really read about intubating or placing an IV. It's all about experience.

 

[polar403]

NMS Clinical Manual of Anesthesiology. It's a small pocketbook that hits all the basics and is a quick read.

 

[narcusprince]

Essentials in anesthesia by the esteemed Dr Gravenstein was a good book I read as an MS3.

 

[gasblaster]

Second Anesthesia Secrets although NMS and Blueprints are a much quicker read for a 2-week rotation and if you aren't planning to go into anesthesia.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

The NMS book is a quick read and not too bad. I liked Secrets and I think it is easily readable in a couple of weeks.

 

[precedexter]

Get your hands on a Baby Miller if you are interested in Anesthesiology as a career. If not, NMS all the way.

 

[narcusprince]

As an attending in T-5 months at an academic institution. I would be slightly disgruntled to see a medical student with those damn blueprints, NMS, Secrets, type of books. Those type of books always rubbed me the wrong way during medical school. Don't get me wrong I used them but its too "cookbook".

 

[MilkmanAl]

As a student, it's the cookbook kind of stuff that you're supposed to be learning, right?

 

[narcusprince]

Correct you should be learning the basic stuff. Its just an opinion but I found those NMS, Secrets, type books annoyingly simple. At that time I was dead set on going into anesthesia so I read that book as well as Baby Miller. If your not going into anesthesia any one of those "cookbook" texts will work. At least at my medical school it was the tradition that you never ask the attendings what books to read because they would always cite the bibles IE Cecils for Medicine, they would never cite blueprints or NMS or secrets.

 

[plusultra]

Hello, I have a similar question here: anesthesia is my #1 choice, but only since recently (i.e., i haven't had all year to go through Miller.) I'm in 3rd year with a 2-week elective coming up in 2.5 weeks, and I'd like to know a good resource. While I'd love to go through all 800 pages of baby miller (and I just might), I'm really going for bang-for-buck here, I'd like to impress them with what I really should know, rather than knowing everything about the first 10 chapters and nothing about the rest. I'll be reading it alongside ortho which occupies the 2 weeks prior to anesthesia.


Can anyone comment on these two books?
Anesthesia Student Survival Guide

and

Anesthesia Crash Course

Both are pocket-sized, the former is 500 pages and the latter 200. Anything that tries to convey that it's a speedy/shortcut/crash course way to learn usually gives me misgivings so I'm more considering the first. If anyone has had experience with these vs. secrets I'd also be interested (again, the whole 'secrets' angle makes me wary).

I've had very good experiences with (non-series, non-bullet point) books written for students this year - there are certain things you need to learn at certain stages, and that's where I'm at. I'm not convinced that reading tomes makes you any smarter when you really should be focusing on foundations, but I'm easily swayed

 

[Ignatius J]

Essentials in anesthesia by the esteemed Dr Gravenstein was a good book I read as an MS3.

This has my endorsement. Takes a couple weeks to read and is very basic, but should give you a very broad, albeit very shallow, base to build from. I think every medical student should start here, establish their base, and then move up to Baby Miller, M/M, etc.

 

[polar403]

Hello, I have a similar question here: anesthesia is my #1 choice, but only since recently (i.e., i haven't had all year to go through Miller.) I'm in 3rd year with a 2-week elective coming up in 2.5 weeks, and I'd like to know a good resource. While I'd love to go through all 800 pages of baby miller (and I just might), I'm really going for bang-for-buck here, I'd like to impress them with what I really should know, rather than knowing everything about the first 10 chapters and nothing about the rest. I'll be reading it alongside ortho which occupies the 2 weeks prior to anesthesia.

There are plenty of different, great resources. Everyone will have a different opinion on it. If you're interested in anesthesia, Baby Miller is a good book and you don't have to read it cover to cover to prepare for a 2 week rotation. You could read section 2 (pharmacology and physiology ~125 pages) and select chapters from section 3 (preop prep and intraop management) and section 4 (special anesthetic considerations), depending on what you'll be around during your rotation. Just borrow it from someone or check it out from your school library.

 

[plusultra]

Awesome thanks for those tips. I'll check if my school has Gravenstein's Essentials, and compare it to the relevant chapters in baby Miller and decide which would work best for me.

 

[epidural man]

For a quick-hit rotation like that, Anesthesia Secrets would be great. Really, though, you could probably just do it cold since nobody will expect much of you over such a short period of time. Most of the things they'll want you to do will be skill-based (as opposed to knowledge-based), anyway. You can't really read about intubating or placing an IV. It's all about experience.

I completely disagree.

The reason we do rotations in med school (in my opinion - I have no idea really....) is not to learn the field, but to take things out of the field that will help us be a better doctor in our chosen specialty, and secondarily probably to get a better understanding of how that field fits into the grand scheme of things.

With that as a back drop - learning procedures in those two weeks is almost useless for many fields. A occupational medicine doc does not need to know how to intubate.

However, most docs will benefit greatly from learning about acidosis and how it affects the vascular tree, or how opioids effect the respiratory system, or how heparin works, or about the oxygen dissassociation curve, how does a blood pressure cuff work, etc. These things happen subtley every day in anesthesia - and you won't see it unless you read about it and then you will expereince anesthesia in a different way.

So, whatever book probably doesn't matter. Skip the anesthesia specific topics (airway exam, machine, neurmuscular blockers, techniques) and focus on the sympathetic nervous system drugs, and the cardiovascular and respiratory physiology chapters.

 

[epidural man]

As a student, it's the cookbook kind of stuff that you're supposed to be learning, right?

How is it that you joined SDN after me, but have

TEN THOUSAND

more posts than me?

That is some serious posting....

 

[MilkmanAl]

I completely disagree.

I didn't really see where you disagreed, actually. I never mentioned anything about what one should take away from a rotation, just what would likely be expected of you/us during one, based on my experience during 4 rotations through the field as a student.

 

[vector2]

However, most docs will benefit greatly from learning about acidosis and how it affects the vascular tree, or how opioids effect the respiratory system, or how heparin works, or about the oxygen dissassociation curve, how does a blood pressure cuff work, etc. These things happen subtley every day in anesthesia - and you won't see it unless you read about it and then you will expereince anesthesia in a different way.

Yeah, this. Your mileage may vary depending on where you rotate, but I'm currently finishing out the year with a cardiac group and one of the docs could really care less if I can intubate or start a-lines even though he knows I matched. He's too busy torturing my brain with endless q's about swan interpretation, trauma resuscitation, OLV respiratory phys, clotting cascade and on and on. I agree with epidural man, but unfortunately most attendings I've seen will focus on procedures if the student isn't doing anesthesiology although these folks are the ones who would benefit most from getting back to phys and pharm basics.

 

[plusultra]

Yeah, this. Your mileage may vary depending on where you rotate, but I'm currently finishing out the year with a cardiac group and one of the docs could really care less if I can intubate or start a-lines even though he knows I matched. He's too busy torturing my brain with endless q's about swan interpretation, trauma resuscitation, OLV respiratory phys, clotting cascade and on and on. I agree with epidural man, but unfortunately most attendings I've seen will focus on procedures if the student isn't doing anesthesiology although these folks are the ones who would benefit most from getting back to phys and pharm basics.

I prefer that approach, and I've found the better docs this year have focused on the intellectual, especially if you're interested in the field. Procedures come with experience, and experience will come if you're in a field that gives that experience. It'd be rare for someone to suck at IVs, ABGs, and intubation if they've done it again and again.

Approaches, however, are what the young learner needs. The way you're shaped to think about your field in early years will persist for a long time, especially if it's versatile enough to not need much tweaking in different environments. So I take it as a good thing when people care about how much I know and how I think, even in a highly procedural field. If you're in anesthesia, you'll learn to intubate. There's no avoiding it. But same thing if you're a paramedic. If you have the opportunity to mold your thought process early, though, you'll take more out of everything you learn from then on, and build. That's what separates you from the RT or paramedic who can art line or intubate with the best of em.