Anatomy App

[MuleDoc]

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I will be starting med school next fall and have almost zero classroom experience with the human body. I would like to get a head start with the memorization intensive subjects (anatomy/physiology!). I'm just about through an app that goes to a high school depth (and yes, I've learned a lot), and have found it's lectures and quizzes very useful.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a similar app (or a book, even) that I should go to for the next level of depth?

 

[sinombre]

This thread comes up dozens of times every year. Pre-studying will do nothing to prepare you for medical school, as you have absolutely no idea what is and isn't relevant. Additionally you'll probably learn more than anything you "pre-study" during your first week of medical school. In other words, it is a huge waste of time. I had almost no knowledge of anatomy before starting and I did fine... as did just about everyone else.

Medical school is a marathon, not a sprint. What you're thinking about doing right now is slowly easing your way towards the finish line before the race begins. In this analogy, you might lessen the distance of the race by 100 feet or so, but you'll still have more than 26 miles to run (unfortunately this analogy is probably pretty close to scale).

Feel free to study anatomy all you want before you begin school, but don't delude yourself in to thinking that it will translate into better academic performance during first year. What you should do between now and August is take advantage of your abundance of free time--you won't have it again for a very long time.

 

[DermViser]

This thread comes up dozens of times every year.

Yup, just look at the similar threads below on the same topic.

 

[MuleDoc]

Haha, ok. Well thanks for saving me some time!

 

[Jabbed]

(For later reference) Highly recommend a 3D atlas like Essential Anatomy (frequently on sale for a few bucks on pc/android/apple) or the free web-based Biodigital Human.

I happen to disagree with most people about the whole pre-studying thing. I read a book or two before starting and I can tell that it's made a difference for me, but not in the way that most people would think. Instead of mastering any basic science material before starting, I casually (no more than an hour or two a day) read books on topics that I was interested in (cardio, resp, renal). The reason that I advocate this is because as I go through the basic science curriculum I feel that I'm actually able to appreciate the foundational knowledge that I'm gaining in those subjects. I would have a really really hard time appreciating biochem if I'd never heard about any acid/base or metabolic disorders. The nuances of cardiac anatomy and physiology (something relatively obscure like left ventricular outflow pressures) only seem important once you learn that minor alterations in those pressures in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can literally suck down the mitral leaflet and cause impressive mitral regurgitation.

Bottom line: I think that I'm way happier than many of my other classmates who feel like they're binging and purging mounds of 'useless' basic science information that 'no one every uses in clinical practice'.

I will say though that it makes no sense to try and learn/memorize a subject that you have no intrinsic interest in. i.e. don't study anatomy.

 

[The Kraken]

In case you get bored, read all of Bates guide to the physical exam, and hit up big Robbins while you're at it. Make sure to hit all of Moores anatomy before school as well, wouldn't want to be behind your peers.

 

[MalibuPreMD]

Some really terrible advice above. Maximize your quality of life now, you have 9 months and then it's a grind for the rest of your training (7-9 years minimum).