Books for IM

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Book Preferences for IM Rotation

  • Cecil's (Baby or Papa)

    Votes: 19 11.8%

  • Harrison's

    Votes: 30 18.6%

  • Current Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment

    Votes: 24 14.9%

  • Saint Frances Guide to Internal Medicine

    Votes: 7 4.3%

  • Ferri's Practical Guide

    Votes: 8 5.0%

  • NMS Medicine

    Votes: 14 8.7%

  • Washington Manual

    Votes: 27 16.8%

  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 32 19.9%
  • Total voters
    161
S

spacetygrss

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Hi!

The search feature and I aren't getting along this morning, I was wondering if someone could either link some threads with recommendations for good IM books or just list their opinions for me.

I have the Current Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment book, but when my outpatient Preceptor saw me reading it he gave me this funny look and suggested that I read "Baby Cecils" instead. 😕

Opinions are welcome.
 
Your attending doesn't know what he's talking about, CMDT is a great book for IM. Cecil's and Harrison's are overrated IMO, and not practical for reading up on patient management decisions. I really only use my Harrison's when I have questions on specific, esoteric questions on pathophysiology.
 
At my school, "Cecil's Essentials of Medicine" is called "Baby Cecil's" (as opposed to "Cecil Textbook of Medicine" aka "Big Cecil's"). The Cecil's Essentials book recently came out in a 6th edition, and I thought that it was pretty good. This is in no way meant to denounce CMDT (I haven't used it), but rather an FYI. Good luck.

Willamette
 
But seriously, MKSAP is probably the best kept secret of all of Internal Medicine prep for med students. It's a question book, and money for the shelf.

CMDT is a good reference book. I like it a lot more than baby Cecil's. I don't know what your preceptor was thinking because I bet even he'd use CMDT before baby Cecil's as a reference source.

First Aid for the Medicine Clerkship is a good road map to give you and idea on what's most important to study.
 
From more basic to most comprehensive, I used Blueprints --> NMS --> Current --> Harrison's.
 
The best kept secret isn't MKSAP (although it is good), but rather MedStudy.

My hospital just got the 2003-2004 version of MedStudy, and I haven't really used another resource since. Seriously, it's all you need. Unlike MKSAP, MedStudy is a review text, but also has questions througout and at the end of each section.

Trust me, if you've never seen or heard of MedStudy, get your hands on a copy. You'll thank me later.
 
With all due respect to Kalel, as a third year on your Internal Medicine rotation, Baby Cecil's is definitely a better book than CMDT. CMDT is exactly that - Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment. CMDT is good for residents and interns to keep up with the latest management options rather than for a novice third year student to learn Internal Medicine from. Cecil's would also include a bit of pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, EKGs, radiographs, etc. and would provide a better understanding of Internal Medicine than CMDT.
 
Hi. I agree with addicted2hope. I am currently reading Cecil's and I find it a really good way to gain a real understanding of the material. I've looked at my brother's (he's a resident) CMDT and don't find it as suitable in this regard. It's a great reference for those who already know the material, but Cecil's is probably better to start with.
 
I agree with the above posts. The book that is most appropriate depends on both the year of study and current needs. If it is the first encounter with a disease I tend to prefer "baby Cecil" or "Harrison?s", but if I need a complete no-nonsense overview or refresh then I use CMDT.
 
I used mostly just NMS and Pretest, MKSAP a little (but quit because it wasn't helping me), and Harrisons only for reading about specific patients (not for studying for the shelf). I think I ended up with a 90 or 91. While pretest was a little too easy, I thought that the MKSAP was not that helpful for the test. I think I'm in the minority though because most people love MKSAP.
 
What are people's opinions of A & L? I've been going through it, and it's quite difficult.... it frustrates me. 🙁 Is pretest a better question book to use?
 
I am wondering if as a reference guide the Harrisson's or Cecils is better. Also what book(s) should I carry in my coat pocket for medicine? Thanks in advance for the advice.
 
EctopicFetus said:
I am wondering if as a reference guide the Harrisson's or Cecils is better. Also what book(s) should I carry in my coat pocket for medicine? Thanks in advance for the advice.
Click to expand...

Definitely Harrison's in the inside coat pocket....Don't forget your backbrace 😀 No, seriously, I didn't have any time to read while on the wards, since you are so busy pre-rounding, rounding with the resident, re-rounding with the attending, and then check-out rounding. I had NMS in my locker, which I managed to read some of on weekends and during medicine subspecialties. I think the only medicine references i kept with me (and used consistently) were my Maxwell's and my PDA for epocrates.
 
Blueprints is another good choice for a quick review.

lf
 
I am beginning with my medicine rotation i august and was looking around at the first aid books. I found first aid for step 2, for the medicine clerkship, and for the wards. Do I need to get all of these or are any of them crappy? Thanks for all advice!!
 
Word at our school is that First Aid for Step 2 is not as good as for Step 1, but I can't comment because I don't use FA Step 2.

Lots of people used FA for Medicine and liked it, but found the outline format difficult to study from exclusively without any further explanations... But a lot of people use FA Medicine without hesitation and swear by it.

FA for Wards is ok. There're a lot of pages in it talking about how to SURVIVE the wards and what books to buy and crap like that. My advice would be to just read this book AT THE BOOKSTORE, check it out at the school library (like an old edition), or just skip it all together because the material is sparse and can be picked up in other prep books.
 
FA for Medicine Clerkship is excellent, but it's not enough by itself. Just like FA for Step 1, you have to use it has a guide and annotate the hell out of it for it to be most useful.
 
Many people in my class used Pocket Medicine. It glosses over some of the elementary background (which baby Cecil or NMS cover), but I can't begin to count how many times it helped me out on the wards.
 
A lot of my fellow classmates have used the Pocket Medicine (written by people at Mass General) as well. The advantage is that it covers the logistics of treating many common issues seen in an inpatient service (hyponatremia, STEMI, etc.) For specifics regarding actual order writing, I'm not sure if there's a book out there but different hospitals, even different wards within a hospital, even have different systems for inputing orders. I just asked interns and nurses how they specifically like their orders written. The disadvantages about Pocket Medicine however is that it doesn't go too much into the concepts underlying why certain treatment modalities are preferred for certain problems. Another good pocket book, especially if you like topics, is Saint Frances Guide to Inpatient Medicine. It's a pretty informative but easy read especially when you only have 5-10 minutes free to read about something.

If your medicine months are all inpatient, it may be difficult to read through a book like Cecil's for the shelf exam. Some of my buddies used High Yield Internal Medicine (similar format as First Aid for USMLE Step 1). However, that book is mostly a bunch of lists. Others have used Fishman's book on Internal Medicine. Although I didn't use it, they in retrospect highly recommend this book as it covers concepts, a broad variety of topics, and is actually an easier read.
 
imtiaz said:
ok where can i get things like the treatment regimen for diabetic ketoacidosis is:
1) NPH insulin 6U/hr IV
2) NS + 20meq K2PO4 + 1amp sodium bicarb IV @ 250cc/hr
3) when glucose < 250, 5% dextrose IV @ 250cc/hr, discontinue NS
4) comp. metabolic panel + venous blood gases q6h
5) accucheck q2h

in other words, what book will tell me how to write orders?
Click to expand...

Current Clinical Strategies: Medicine. Little brown pocketbook that has admission orders for every common medical condition. Doesn't necessarily have treatment regimens, but I think it's close to what you are looking for.
 
some kids here recommended the washington manual, does it have this information in it? ideally i want to carry around the least amount of books i can. i already carry boards & wards, so whatever is the best book for this type of thing would really help me out. i rarely see the patient in the ER, they're usually moved up to the floor when i see them. the ER doctor will write the standing orders so i don't have to worry about that.
 
I'm in the midst of my Medicine Clerkship right now. Here are the books I purchased and how useful I felt they were:

1. CMDT 2004 - I think, for medical students, it is the best book out there that serves as a comprehensive guide. As soon as you are assigned a new patient, crack this baby open to get the full run-down on the disease, its management, symptoms, key findings on physical diagnosis, etc. Texts like Harrison's are more comprehensive, but not as user friendly.

2. First Aid for the Wards - Quite a neat little book, has many things in a small package. It has an extremely high-yield section for each major clerkship that you can study weeks or months in advance. In addition, it tells you how each clerkship works and how to excel. Finally it has a listing of review books, PDA programs, and textbooks and their ratings for each clerkship.

3. Blueprints Medicine - The quintessential review book for the Medicine Shelf. Some people prefer First Aid for the Medicine Clerkship, but I personally prefer the Blueprints format.

4. Saint-Frances Guide to Inpatient Medicine - This book is probably a little too detailed for the medical student. Very good for your intern year however.

5. Griffith's 5 Minute Clinical Consult (PDA) - An outstanding program to have on the wards to give you a quick rundown on a disease, its symptoms, medications, and prognosis.

6. Epocrates Rx Pro (PDA) - Possibly the best pharmacological guide ever. This program has saved my butt countless times already. It has a full index by both generic and trade names for drugs with complete Adult/Peds dosing information, side effects, mechanism of action . . . hell it even has the manufacturer and cost! It has also made my intern's life a lot easier since I can give them drug doses within seconds.
 
I agree, First Aid is best for Step 1, not so good for Step 2, the Wards, individual clerkships, etc. For Medicine, people here tended to use either NMS (good read, but long) or Blueprints (a little consise). The little red book is useful too. For questions, I used the Physical Diagnosis (yellow) Pre-Test and Medicine (grey) Pre-Test. I also skimmed through MKSAP. I carried around Ferri too.
 
Hi,

Anyone used this pocket book, and would you recommend it?

Thanks
 
The spiral-bound, 1-1.5 inch think one? I used it during my Medicine rotation...was quite useful for quick reference/light reading.
 
I love it. I use it every day. It doesn't really fit in my school-issued white coat, but I recently bought a new coat with huge pockets and it fits in there. It's a pretty handy book.
 
I carry Ferri's Practical Guide to the Care of the Medical Patient with me. It doesn't fit in my coat but that's why I have hands. 🙂

Most of my reading comes from what I go through with patient writeups (Ferri and UpToDate mostly). I also read the Internal Medicine Casebook because it's so concise and to the point. I picked up Medicine Recall but haven't been using it much -- not as good as the Surgery one, IMO.
 
i haven't done much reading yet in my medicine rotation; inpatient has been really intense and i come home so tired every night. but now i'm on outpatient and i think i need to get my act together.....i already have wash manual and current's, but for a concise review, which book do you guys recommend? blueprints medicine or first aid for the medicine clerkship? i have heard mixed reviews about both and can't decide which to buy.

thanks!
 
It depends on your style really. I prefer Blueprints because it has rather large type-face and colorful backgrounds and makes easy reading at night. I like First Aid books for Step I/II but I don't dig the outline format for clinical rotations.
 
That book is a lifesaver. I love that book. It has an amazing amount of material in it for being such a small book.
 
Its a great book, I got it for a friend who just started her intern year in medicine, and she loves it.
 
Forget either one; NMS or CMDT is the way to go for reading and Pretest is good for questions. Blueprints: maybe if you're in nursing or PA school. Just try to read for about 30-60 minutes each day about one condition and you should be OK (assuming your medicine rotation is about 3 months long); it's much better to study one small topic each day than a whole bunch of subjects all at once, especially when you can relate the reading to a particular patient.
 
I used Blueprints and Pretest, and the St. Francis Guide to Inpatient Medicine (which is awesome). I didn't read every page in every book, there is just too much. I thought Pretest was a good representation of the areas that you need to be proficient in. Just before the exam I skimmed the salient parts of First Aid for Step 2, which was a great refresher.

People complain that Blueprints is too basic and/or lacks detail (hence the name of the series), but I prefer to go over the framework of each topic before deciding where to learn more detail. NMS would have been great if I possessed the time or the memorizing capacity, it was just too dense and too slow for my taste. Dear God, the thought of reading NMS for Medicine cover to cover right now makes me want to hide the razor blades.

Good luck!
 
thanks for the replies. what exacly is pretest? i have never heard of it.
 
i loved blueprints for ob/gyn, peds, and psych.

for medicine i tried it, but found it too general and too summary-esque, but that's just me. i read NMS medicine and thought it was good prep for the shelf, although i have yet to find out how i did. i also did pre-test and thought it was really good for a quick "ahhh it's 3 days 'til test time" review. appleton & lange takes me too long sometimes!

--s
 
coconut lime said:
what exacly is pretest?
Click to expand...

It's a book of practice questions with answer explanations. There are pretest titles for all of the clerkships (500 Q's each). Great review, IMHO. 👍

link to the book on Amazon.com ~~ with a few sample pages shown
 
Excellent book. It has come in very handy, and I have not even done medicine yet. I think it's applicable across many fields.
 
BLueprints for IM is a complete waste for step 2 in my opinion. Blueprints for OB/GYN and PEDS are golden. (just took step 2)
 
I agree that Blueprints is probably not enough. I used NMS, but saw another students First Aid a couple of days before test and thought that it would be good as well. Whatever source you use, a must (in my opinion) is MKSAP for students II. I thought that it was by far the best shelf prep. I got a high A on medicine shelf and attribute it to that book. It makes you use the knowledge from the review books in the format the test comes in (these can be two different things). I am sure pretest is good too, but MKSAP is golden. By the way, use it as a learning tool rather than an assessment. Read every explanation.
 
How well did you score in MKSAP II or Pretest to get high A on the shelf?
 
I'd strongly recommend NOT using the first aid medicine clerkship book for the IM shelf. Some of its chapters are good, but other chapters in it are just horrendous. I used that book and ended up getting one of my worst shelf grades yet. Granted my score was still average, but I put a large amount of time into studying and was hoping to score well. I used MKSAP as well which was pretty good and I wish I had reviewed it more throughouly. In retrospect, most of my time spent on the FA book was just time spent studying ineffeciently.
 
I have no idea how I scored b/c I used it as a review text. Read the question, tried to get the answer, then read the explanation. Did not keep track of any scores. It's not like Step I or II where you have time to do more work if your scores are not up to par. I would go through it once mid point, and then again right before the test. The shelf exam test's more "what would you do, or what should we do first" rather than "Crohn's disease is characterized by skip lesions, etc. I have found it hard to translate facts from book learning into the way questions are asked. That is why I am a big fan of question books right before test. Went from 2 shelf B's to 4 A's after starting to use question books.
 
i tried looking for MKSAP on amazon and there were a lot of books with that title. carm, what's the name of the one that you used for your shelf? thanks!
 
coconut lime said:
i tried looking for MKSAP on amazon and there were a lot of books with that title. carm, what's the name of the one that you used for your shelf? thanks!
Click to expand...

MKSAP for Students is published by the American College of Physicians (ACP) which is the national association for internal medicine. Here's a link to their website where you can purchase MKSAP for Students II:

http://www.acponline.org/catalog/books/mksap_students2.htm
 
What is the title of this book? On amazon.com, there are tons of books entitled Ferri's ______, I am a book person and doing my Internal Medicine rotation next wk so if you could tell me what the exact title is, that would be super! Is it entitled Ferri's Clinical Advisor?

Thanks
 
Swimdoc said:
What is the title of this book? On amazon.com, there are tons of books entitled Ferri's ______, I am a book person and doing my Internal Medicine rotation next wk so if you could tell me what the exact title is, that would be super! Is it entitled Ferri's Clinical Advisor?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Ferri's Practical Guide to the Care of the Medical Patient (or something similar to that). It's a spiral-bound handbook.
 
bump
 
I second MKSAP for students the best thing since sliced bread.

I learned more from those answer explanations than from any one book.

later
 
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