Book Lists for MSIII rotations

[j_sde]

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hey.. i was thinkin it would be a good idea to start a list of recommended books for all the 3rd yr rotations. as your rotations end, just put a comment down on which books you thought were helpful durin the rotations and for the shelf. commentary on things like whether the book was succient vs hard to dense to finish durin the rotation block.... stuff like that... and then you can come back to the site later on durin the year as you begin a diff rotation to read up on book recommendations for your new rotation.


so start off... i'm just beginin 2nd week of obgyn.. so far i've been using blueprints, but i dont think its that good. i think some parts are too general (such as the fetal heart rate section) and some parts are too hard to understand w/out any background... any opposin thoughts on blueprints?

so i went to the bookstore and picked up the small pocketbook, Gynecoloy and Obstetrics by Chan. it looks pretty good, with some information on surgical procedures that i couldnt really find in blueprints. plus it seems like a easier read, esp while in the hospital... which is impt for me cuz i really have no time/motivation to do readin when i come home.

there was also this Pearls of OB Gyn book that i thought looked pretty good, but didnt really feel like forkin up another $30. if anyone is usin that book, what you think?

 

[kcrd]

I just started my Psych rotation. I'm using the Kaplan and Sadock textbook and the little green "current clinical strategies" book for a pocket book. I also got the st. francis guide for psych.

 

[mikeshana]

that is a good idea


ive talked to past last years third years and they told me that blueprints for ob/gyn was all you needed (this is from more than 1 person)

Any thoughts on books for fam med? ive heard sloane's essentials of family medicne but it looks as dry as eating a piece of cardboard (and its like 800 pages)

ANY advice would be appreciated

 

[Tazmaniac]

I'm a 4th year, but will be taking Family Med with the incoming 3rd years...I've been told Sloane is the best. I think with the way Family med works and the patient load you get, you'll learn most everything hands-on. If you don't know what to do with Diabetes, Hypertension, and high cholesterol by the end of the rotation, you weren't in the right clinic 🙂

Others I liked:
Psych: BRS Psychiatry
Peds: Nelson's Essentials, Saint-Frances Pediatrics
Ob/Gyn: Blueprints (all I used)
Surgery: Surgical Recall
Medicine: Problem Solving in Clinical Medicine (by Cutler)
Ortho: House Staff Series' Orthopedics
Peds Cardio: Mosby Peds Cardio handbook

-Todd MSIV USC 😛

 

[Asher]

Essentials of Family Medicine was actually one of the better assigned books from my M3 year. Family was my second rotation so I was still pretty new to the clinics and it provides a good foundation for the basic problems you'll see in outpatient medicine.

Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment is a great book for medicine. Unlike most texts it has a good balance between pathophysiology and treatment. For a pocket book, go with either Ferri or the Washington Manual. I have both and found that Ferri seemed more popular among M3s and Washington Manual among interns.

 

[BatmanMD]

I'm in psych right now and my course director advised us to get the kaplan and sadock book, but everyone else, including the bookstore people said that if you wanted to go into psych, then get it, otherwise its too detailed.

So I got the first aid for psych book, seems really simple, but was expensive for such a small book ($33)!

 

[fourthyear]

Boards and Wards is a great book you should keep close by all year. It isn't nearly comprehensive enough for each subject test in rotations, but it give you a good quick review in nice chart formats that are great for summarizing or cramming. I used in heavily for USMLE Step 2 and it was so good I wished I had bought it much earlier in the year. Buy it now and just spend a few days each month looking over the section of the rotation you are on.

 

[Flipchick]

I really liked Surgical Recall for surgery and Ferri for medicine.

 

[dochuffman]

How is first aid medicine and nms medicine and nms for other rotations?

 

[unregistered]

For Internal Medicine
Kochar's is Excellent. Do that and MKSAP questions and you're set.

 

[mikeshana]

has anyone heard any info on Blueprints in Family Medicine fof the family medicine shelf exam?

 

[footprints]

What are MKSAP questions & where can I get them?

 

[Burton]

Originally posted by footprints
What are MKSAP questions & where can I get them?

MKSAP for students is the Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program, which is a question book based on the Core Medicine Clerkship Curriculum Guide. It's challenging, but it has good discussions. I'm hoping it will help me with Step 2 and my upcoming sub-I. You can get it from acponline.org under "shop acp."

I'm also a big fan of Boards and Wards (Ayala). Try to read about the rotation you're on maybe toward the middle- too early and it's too condensed, too late and you don't get the full benefit. It'll help "sum-up" things, and will be a good book to review when Step 2 rolls around.

Other opinions:
Medicine- NMS is too much (for me). Try something shorter (like First Aid for medicine) and learn it well, of course referencing Harrison's and other sources for your individual patients.
OB/Gyn- they gave us a textbook (Beckman, I believe, the purple book), which I thought was good. I've heard First Aid is good.
Psych- Blueprints isn't enough. First Aid is more than enough.
Surgery- Recall for day-to-day. They gave us a text, Lawrence, which was decent, but a little choppy on management.
Family- Sloane is good.
Peds- Blueprints.

Burton, MSIV

 

[squeek]

These are the books that were recommended to me by students a year ahead of me. I've just finished third year, and I can say that I found the recommendations to be right on (we take shelf exams for almost all clinical rotations, so these books were helpful for that type of preparation).

Ob-Gyn: Pre-Test, High-Yield, and Hacker-Moore. I read a lot, though, and my classmates have said that Blueprints is more than sufficient. I recommend reading and memorizing HighYield first, so you know the basics right off. Also, there was a slim, burgundy ObGyn pocketbook (I can't recall the name and have since sold it) that was great for single-page recaps of important clinical topics.

Family Medicine: Swanson's Family Practice Review. This is the best book, and a fabulous review for other specialties, as well. It's long, but you don't need to do all of the questions or read the entire book. I just read the answers to all the questions and the outlines at the end of question groups. I was MORE than prepared for the Family Practice Shelf, and I also returned to this book for Peds review.

Peds: Blueprints and Pre-Test worked well.

Surgery: I read NMS, because I like outline formats, and it's really easy to review using that book. I also used High-Yield surgery. (as in ObGyn, I recommend learning everything in HighYield first, then moving on to other things). I didn't find Surgical Recall to be very useful, although it is good to have between OR cases. I also used Appleton and Lange's question book, although I didn't get through all of the questions. And, yes, there IS a lot of medicine on the surgery shelf. I was quite grateful I'd had family medicine the rotation before surgery!

Neuro: I used Lange's Clinical Neurology and Pre-Test with good results.

Medicine: First Aid for Medicine was moderately useful. Supplement, of course, with Harrison's, etcetera. Read, read, read for this rotation! What I REALLY recommend, though, is a small black Medicine Pocketbook by Sabatine. It's the Mass General House Officer's handbook, and I think it's great. Tiny font, but good one-page encapsulations of clinical problems, physical findings, plus some EKG info. I read through this twice before my exam, and thought it very helpful. It's a manageable size, but it gives a relatively broad review of most of the diseases you'll need to know. GREAT book to have in your pocket. Also, "The Only EKG Book You'll Ever Need" is quite good. Much better than Dubin, which is too basic for third year medicine.

As far as when to study, try to fit 20 minutes in during down time as much as you can. The other thing that I did in third year, with reasonable success, is figure out how much I need to read (i.e., textbook length), take the total number of days in the rotation, subtract one week (for review and questions during the last week), and then divide the textbook length by that number of days. You'll find you have less than 20 pages to read a day, and often only 10 or 15. I had a rule: I couldn't go to bed until I read my daily allottment, and I had no excuses (you're rarely too tired to not be able to make it through 10-20 pages). This worked well, and I almost always finished my textbooks a week early, with plenty of time for review and questions at the end.

I know this is lengthy, but I hope it's helpful! Good luck!

 

[sanfilippo]

I'll post what I have used:

Internal Medicine: Current Medical Dx and Tx (CMDT), NMS for review, Dubin's EKG, MKSAP, A&L, PreTest Physical Dx and IM for Q's
OB/Gyn: Beckmann's, A&L for Q's, High Yield and First AId for Review
Family: Blueprints, Swanson's for review and Q's, PreTest Physical Dx and IM for Q's; outpatient IM/family topics I also used 20 common problems in primary care
Pediatrics: Nelson's Essentials, PreTest and A&L for Q's, NMS for Review
Psychiatry: Kaplan and Saddock's Handbooks for Clinical Psych and Pharmacotherapy, DSM-IV criteria (online), PreTest and A&L for Q's
Surgery: Lawrence's, Surgical Recall, A&L for Q's
Urology: Lawrence's Surgical Specialties, Urology section
Genetics: no single good book; gene reviews on-line, AAP guidelines, Smith's for reference, OMIM on-line
Dermatology: an atlas for reference (usually in clinic), Clinical Synopsis and Atlas of Dermatology (great reference for home)
Medicine Sub-I: Ferri's, CMDT, Medicine Recall, Boards and Wards/Step 2 Secrets for review

Also: emedicine.com is a great resource for all rotations for a quick browse
-S.

 

[Renovar]

My book list: (as you can tell, i am interested in going into medicine)

Medicine: Blueprints (quick and dirty overview), Wash Manual or Pocket Internal Medicine (have both, I like wash better but many of my classmates like the pocket book), Dubin's, Harrisons (at home for reference), pretest chest radiography, Underground clinical Vignettes, ICU recall

Peds: Blueprints (quick and dirty, ok for shelf), NMS (thick reading, dont like it), pretest peds

OB/Gyn: Blueprints (know this book, ace the shelf, guaranteed), pretest ob/gyn

Psych: Kaplan and Saddock (the skinnier one), pretest psych

Neuro: Neuroscience notes from 2nd year, Neurology secrets, neuro section for First Aid step 2 book

Surgery: Recall, Recall, Recall! Know the first few chapters of the book at the very least. Pretest surgery (very difficult questions) Pray that your version of the shelf is easier than the one I took.