book for Differential Diagnoses

[vomer]

To all the IMer's out there,

I am heading in your direction--well career wise, I mean. I just started my medicine rotation and want to know if there are books you guys can recommend for bulking up on differential diagnoses and that type of thing.

Also are there must have books that you recommend for Internal Medicine????

Finally, I have to take a shelf exam in Medicine and I was hoping to get your input on how to prepare for the test and what I can read/review to help out on that front.

Please forgive the barrage of questions, but I am really hoping to make this rotation count and I would appreciate any and all of your help.

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[Kalel]

Have you gotten a chance to read ckent's IM FAQ thread?:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79079

It has a section on book reccomendations and rotation advise. Anyways, Ferri's Guide to medical management has a differential diagnosis section in the beginning. Another good pocket book is "essentials of Current medical diagnosis and treatment", which is kind of like the abbreviated version of CMDT that fits in your pocket. I'm pretty sure that also has differential dxes in it. Anyways, as stated in the FAQ, my favorite book for the IM rotation is CMDT (current medical diagnosis and treatment). The 2004 version is out now (new version every November). I'd reccomend reading that book to study whatever subjects you may encounter during your rotation, and I'd also reccomend using it to look up stuff about your patient. Although you should read Blueprints cover to cover, it's not nearly comprehensive enough for shelf or ward purposes, it's only meant to give you a background. And Pretest for medicine is probably the best question book for medicine. Good luck on your rotation!

 

[s4yxia]

Another book you should check out is the Internal Medicine Clerkship: 150
Biggest Mistakes And How To Avoid Them. It's a book that shows you the major
mistakes students make during the rotation. There are chapters on prerounds,
work rounds, write-ups, oral case presentation, and progress notes. Also some
really good stuff on EKGs and CXRs. The idea is to know these mistakes right
off the bat, avoid them while others might be making them, and get a better
evaluation (trust me you need good evals if you want to compete for a tough residency). It doesn't talk about diseases like some of the other books Kalel
mentioned so I highly recommend something like Current Medical Diagnosis as
well. But for the nuts and bolts of the rotation, it's great.

 

[vomer]

Hey Guys,

I really appreciate the advice--I will definitely be heading over to the bookstore this week to pick up some of the books you mentioned--just hope they don't cost a bundle!!!

Thanks again,
Vomer

 

[goldenboy]

check out this pda book
http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/medical/diagnosaurus/index.html
called diagnosaurus.
it's good, and free....