Like others have said, there are great books for board review out there, but really no one go-to-comprehensive source for day-to-day practice. I have searched for one and the books below are some that I've tried. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. UptoDate is definitely a gem especially with limited time in clinic or when you need to explore a topic deeper and answer common medical questions.
Books: (disclosure: I am not affiliated with anyone selling or distributing these books)
1)Harrison's 19th Edition: Its a good thing to have on your bookshelf (although most medical libraries will give you a free electronic copy), but way too detailed with minutiae that are not directly applicable to your practice. Worth having as a reference for formal presentations that require revisiting pathophysiology.
2) Lange (UCSF) Current Diagnosis and Medical Treatment 2020: Good prose-explanations with detail on all topics within Internal Medicine. The book is big and can not be carried on rotations, but on the other hand, it is able to be read like a textbook. There is a lot of good detail and this is by far the most comprehensive I've come across including work-up and management, but it does not expand on a few practical areas that I feel are lacking (anticoagulation management, IV access, antibiotic strategies, etc). The Cardiology section is particularly strong as they go super in depth into all the valve abnormalities and detailed medical and surgical management.
3) Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics 36th Edition: Great coverage of all of internal medicine material with lots of charts/tables. Can technically be carried in a white coat pocket depending on size of your pocket, but is a bit heavy and may cause neck strain/occupy the entire pocket. A few of my colleagues carry this around instead of Pocket Medicine as its got a little more detail. I don't use it for that because I feel Pocket Medicine is detailed enough, while being more succinct. That said, it is a very solid book to read although not as prose as Lange and still lacks practical aspects of hospital medicine.
4) Pocket Medicine 7th Edition: I carry it in my white coat as it serves as a quick refresher to walk through a differential prior to presenting or questions to ask prior to meeting a patient and going by it and including all the information they mention will enhance your presentations. It oftentimes give a primary source for their information which is nice. The biggest downside for me are the lack of some practical aspects as well as the fact that it's written in bullet form.
5) Intern Guide by Dustyn Williams (Online Med Ed): Was really excited when I heard about this and saw a preview thinking it's exactly what's missing from medical education. The preview including practical approaches to differetials like chest pain, dosing tables, medications to give for common problems like constipation on wards, etc. It definitely fed my pre-residency neuroticism. A month into residency, and it really wasn't useful anymore as I knew dosages like zosyn by heart (or they're in the EMR) and the book contains the absolutely bare minimum you should know in the first half of intern year. It is nowhere near as comprehensive/detailed as it should be. A step-by-step EKG guide, CXR interpretations, stroke management, IV access, more detailed approach to antibiotics, anticoagulation pros/cons+ management tips are all things that would be useful and a lot of space is wasted on his own philosophy. Some of his video lectures on approaches to cirrhotics/HF served as a good primer for residency though.
6) Practice and Principles for Internal Medicine: Was hopeful for this one too, but too much of it talks about topics not for residents, there is a lot of repetitive stuff and the book is not succinct. It's also been a while since the edition was updated which makes me wonder how much has changed. Additionally, diagnosis and management are present, but are covered more succinctly and more in detail in other books (Lange). That said, it is the only book that provides a formal overview (charts/tables) on certain practical aspects as lines, drains, and tubes that I was not able to find detailed well in any other textbook. I feel this would be a good book to read cover to cover for a hospitalist.
7) Frameworks for Internal Medicine by Andre Mansoor: A newer book less heard of that looks quite promising in many ways. First the way it breaks down every topic from glomerular disease to seizures into linear flow sheets is unique and would work well for logical thinkers to help retain medical information. On the other hand, much of what's in the book should be known to medicine residents or easily recalled with a quick search, but after each table, there's little Q&A sections which are pretty helpful. Not nearly as comprehensive or detailed as Lange, Washington, etc though and very scant on work-up/management, but it's definitely a great resource for M3/M4 students and can serve as a refresher for residents.
If anyone after reading this feels they know of a superior textbook I've missed hit me up. I know UTD, Dynamed are awesome and that a lot of this stuff is easy to look up, but sometimes you don't know exactly what to look up.
