Best Books for EM Rotation

[roadwarrior17]

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I am interested in emergency medicine and will be starting my rotation in a month. I was wondering what book people have found most useful and what I can do to prepare for my rotation. I would like to make a good impression and want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks for the help.

 

[QofQuimica]

I am interested in emergency medicine and will be starting my rotation in a month. I was wondering what book people have found most useful and what I can do to prepare for my rotation. I would like to make a good impression and want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks for the help.

I'm using Case Files, but I'm sure there are other resources you can use if you don't like case books. If you want to go into EM, you should think about doing a sub-I too. Then you can use this rotation as a way to learn the basics and ask for letters from the people you work with as a sub-I.

 

[45408]

I used "Emergency Medicine" by Glenn Hamilton. Our course director lent us all a copy of the book for the rotation, and our exam was based off of it. It's geared towards a medical student who is not yet used to the "What's the worst thing that could happen to this patient? What is the diagnosis that we can't miss?" scenario.

 

[shift_roro]

Has anyone used First Aid over Case Files?

 

[DragonWell]

Tintinalli (sp?) is the bible of EM. I found the baby version to be handy to keep around.

Emergency Medicine Mag is a good website to peruse.

This little book is a fantastic reference for basic wound care - from suturing to splinting. Very helpful to have around.

Pocket EM has some good info, but is badly in need of a facelift. I found it hard to read. The two color version of Pocket Medicine is infinitely easier on the eyes than Pocket EM.

In general, brushing up on suturing if you're not comfortable would be a good idea. Have a good handle on differentials/workup for abdominal/flank pain, fever in a peds patient, syncope, among others. Review a bit about reading CXRs.

 

[Pinner Doc]

I used Case Files, but as a resident I use mostly Up to Date or Pocket EM.

For what it's worth, someone above had a good point. Emergency Medicine is a whole different set of thinking. It's basically, work up a differential while trying to rule out all of the bad things, or the things that can kill you.

For example:

22 year old man comes in to ED looking anxious and complaining of chest pain. You think he's just having a panic attack, but your job is to (by history, physical and/or labs, imaging) convince your attending why you don't think he has:
a) acute MI
b) PE
c) pneumonia
d) pneumothorax
e) Booerhave's (sorry for the spelling)

or

50 year old woman comes in with chronic low back pain. Your job (if you choose to accept it), is to work up the patient and convince your attending as to why you don't think she has:
a) cauda equina
b) epidural abscess
c) abdominal aortic aneurysm

etc etc etc, and so on... Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), a lot of Emergency Medicine is saying to patients, "We don't know what is causing your pain, but we do know that it's not an emergency. Peace out." One of the biggest weapons in your arsenal will be having a broad differential diagnosis for common chief complaints (again, as mentioned above).

Hope that helps frame your thinking!