Best Books For Each Rotation

[Instatewaiter]

I have seen a lot of threads about which books to use and how to do well on third year recently. This thread is meant to be a one-stop-shop for incoming 3rd years to figure you what books are good. So anyone who has gone through 3rd year, give your input on what you used and whether or not you liked it.

Here's the format-
Peds:

Medicine:

Surgery:

OB/GYN:

Psych:

Neuro:

Family:

Other comments


I'll start
Peds: NMS (mediocre), Pre-test (good)
I tried Blueprints but thought it was too basic. I also tried BRS but found it hard to get through. In the end I opted for NMS and that was overkill and hard to read.


Medicine: Step up to medicine (phenomenal), USMLE world (very, very highly recommended), MKSAP 3 (good), MKSAP 4 (mediocre)
I chose so many sources because I wanted to rock the shelf and we had 12 weeks. I got through everything and did Step up twice. I would very highly recommend you get MKSAP 3, USMLE world and step up to medicine. This is the only clerkship I used USMLE world for and it helped a lot.


Surgery: First aid for surgery (mediocre), Pre-test (ok), Appleton and Lange (ok) and Surgery recall for pimping (just ok)
Never really found anything I liked in terms of books and didn't have a whole lot of time to read it. Many recommend NMS casefiles. I got recall for pimping but I dont think it helped a whole heck of a lot.

OB/GYN: Blueprints (excellent) and UWISE question bank (excellent)
UWISE was paid for by my school. It is a great q-bank. This is probably the best blueprints for any of the clerkships.


Psych: First aid for psych (excellent and concise) and appleton and lang (very good)
First aid was nice because it was so short.


Neuro: Blueprints for neuro (excellent) and pretest (good)
I am generally not a fan of blueprints but all the residents recommended it. This is one of the few blueprints that was quality.

Family: didn't have a shelf exam for this so I have nothing to add.


In the end, remember that there are a lot of books out there that have similar information. It is better to get one source and learn it well than to get multiple sources and spend all your time reading them rather than learning the information. Too many sources will hurt your performance on the shelf exams.

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[Depakote]

Since I've PM'd and emailed this list to a few people, I'll go ahead and post it here too:

UWorld for Step 2 has been solid for rotations but each rotation has had its own review books that I've used.

Surgery (my first rotation, I liked the resources I had but it was my first... other people might have better suggestions)
-Uworld
-NMS Surgery Case Book
-Pestana Notes
All of the above are great, but something additional wouldn't hurt.

OB/GYN- Rocked this shelf
Blueprints (required text at my institution) It's a good primary text. Do the questions at the end and the ones they have online.
OB/GYN Case files is money.
UWorld

Peds- Rocked this shelf
UWorld
Case files is money
I didn't like blueprints for peds, but the fluid and electrolytes chapter is worth a read.
Pre-test is money (do this right before the shelf)

Medicine- Not my best shelf, but still did very good
Did all the UWorld Medicine questions
Did all of MKSAP4
Lots of people like Step Up to Medicine. It's a good resource, I was just ADHD-ing too much to sit down and read it. If you can, I suggest it.
Read a few chapters in Case Files- not too bad

Psych- Rocked this shelf
UWorld
First Aid for Psych is money
Case Files is money

Family- Rocked this shelf
Definitely had senioritis so I didn't study as hard as I did for other exams, we'll see how that works out.
Study strategy consisted of:
Repeating MSKAP4 questions with a focus on the General Internal Medicine Section
Using AAFP online board review questions (sign-up is free for med students)- these were very helpful.
https://www.aafp.org/online/en/home.html

 

[Punkn]

Surgery
-NMS Surgery Case Book
-Pestana Notes
If you really want to rock this, probably should add question bank or other source.

OB/GYN
-Blueprints
-OB/GYN Case files
UWise questions (provided by school)
This was my 1st shelf, and I walked out thinking I'd failed it for sure. Think it was just getting used to the shelf exam format as I scored fine.

Peds
-Pre-test
-Case files
One of my best shelves, these resources were great

Medicine
-Did all the UWorld Medicine questions
-Step Up to Medicine
It's hard to get through all of SUTM, and if you don't like the format, could make it hard to learn from.

Psych
-First Aid for Psych
-Appleton and Lange for questions
My best shelf, these resources were great for me

Family
-Case Files
Worst shelf, but still >70 raw. I had only had Ob/Gyn at this point (no IM or Peds). Definitely need to supplement with something else.

 

[DrDooLiddle]

I keep seeing "Pestana notes" being referenced on SDN, can someone please elaborate on where you get this from, or post a link to where I could find it

 

[PokerDoc]

I keep seeing "Pestana notes" being referenced on SDN, can someone please elaborate on where you get this from, or post a link to where I could find it

I second this sentiment

 

[kdburton]

Pestana wrote the Kaplan Surgery Lecture notes. He has his own document that you can probably google floating around on the internet but essentially they are the same as the Kaplan lecture notes. There is a ~70 page text portion that describes common and high-impact surgical conditions as well as a large number of clinical vignettes that essentially says all the same information over again but with some context.

 

[aashkab]

dude i can't believe after takign step 1 yesterday. there's an ENTIRE NEW WORLD OUT THERE for me to explore and master. gosh, the language of third year already has me overwhelmed, lol

 

[Depakote]

dude i can't believe after takign step 1 yesterday. there's an ENTIRE NEW WORLD OUT THERE for me to explore and master. gosh, the language of third year already has me overwhelmed, lol

How would you grade your overwhelmedeness on the Farnsworth Overwhelmedeness Scale?

 

[aashkab]

if that was a practical joke on me, it worked because I definitely google'd that. lol, nicely done.

 

[cartoondoc]

I thought Blueprints was good for every primary rotation, but that Surgery Recall was essential for surgery. That was practically the only book I didn't sell from my MS3 year, even though I didn't go into surgery.

 

[Depakote]

if that was a practical joke on me, it worked because I definitely google'd that. lol, nicely done.

Not supposed to make you do that... more just a poke at the fact that clinical medicine has an eponymous grading system for just about everything.

 

[sucker]

anyone doing NMS Medicine Casebook?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...&field-keywords=nms+casebook+medicine&x=0&y=0

 

[aashkab]

can anyone also suggest some extra resources for surgery other than NMS casebook, WORLD, and Pestana. I'd rather have more than less (although i'm sure it'll be difficult to get through it all)

 

[sucker]

maybe casefiles for surgery....its A rated by first aid for ck.

 

[HiddenGentleman]

Could someone please PM me and send me the Pestana notes for surgery, I would be eternally grateful. I searched google and couldn't find any links for it that still worked. Thanks!

 

[psammomabody]

Peds: deja review pediatrics + case files + pre-test
For my pocket: nothing / a small book made by my school's pediatric residency program, particularly needed for bugs/drugs section

Medicine: uworld (all of them!) + mksap 4 questions. step up to medicine for reference only.
For my pocket: Pocket Medicine (red binder book)

Surgery: casefiles + nms casebook + deja review surgery + kaplan pestana notes + uworld. should have done more questions but i was burned out.
For my pocket: Mont Reid Handbook

OB/GYN: uwise questions online + pretest + casefiles + blueprints. also read portions of Beckmann's textbook for an exam written by our ob/gyn department.
For my pocket: baby red book - Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Infertility

Psych: first aid psych + case files + pretest + A&L.
For my pocket: Current Clinical Strategies Handbook and Current Psychiatric Drugs Handbook

For all rotations, I did the usmleworld questions. I also did kaplan qbook questions for all rotations except IM (150 peds questions, 100 questions each for psych, ob/gyn, and surgery).

Scored 95+ raw on all my shelves.

Overall, I would recommend case files + one other review book for each rotation, then do as many questions as possible. For IM - it's a fine balance between step up to medicine and usmleworld. You can't do all of both. I leaned towards finishing all the usmleworld questions and just reading pertinent sections of step up on questions I got wrong.

I also liked the format of the Deja Review series, which I used for peds and surgery. These books are fast reads, good for quick facts and assocations but not very in depth.

 

[NRAI2001]

Anyone use the FA internal med books??

FA: internal med book (for 3rd year clerkships):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071633820/ref=pd_luc_sbs_02_02

or the FA internal med for the ABIM (for residents.. more thorough i assume?)
http://www.amazon.com/First-Interna...cialty/dp/007149913X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

[MDpride]

what about using Kaplan step2 lecture notes for rotation?

 

[knaru]

what's a good EM pocket book?

My 1st choice is The new EM pocket book which comes out on Sept 13th. It will be too late by the I get this because my rotation is only 4 weeks long and I'm not thinking about going into ER.
http://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Emergen...1753007&sr=1-1
I also prefer not getting the older edition.

My other choices are
2) Tintinalli EM Manual Pocket book
3) Tarascon Adult Emergency Pocketbook
4) EMRA Top Clinical Problems
5) NMS Clinical Manual of Emergency Medicine

 

[Leonidis I]

hate to bump up this old thread but has much changed in 3 years? any newer resources we should be aware about that are clutch for particular rotations/shelves?

 

[Trogghunter]

Wash U consult series and specialty series. They're 8x5in, and my attwnsings quote them