Books for Internal Med. and Surgery?

I think Pretest is very helpful, no matter what the subject. I used both Blueprints and NMS for Medicine, but did not feel all that well prepared for the Subject exam. It is just darn hard! I don't know about Surgery- start that rotation this Monday! I did already by Pretest Surgery, though. Good luck!
Mary

 

For medicine, I've heard that the best text to use is "Current medical diagonosis and treatment". It's not a book that you read cover to cover like blueprints, but you should just look up and read about whatever patients you have using this book. There is a new edition scheduled to be printed oct. 25th, so I am waiting for this new edition before I pick up my copy. I also have blueprints which I plan to read cover to cover, but I've heard that blueprints lacks the depth needed for rounds and the shelf exam.

 

I think that, for surgery, you'll need a text to read up on upcoming cases. Most students find Lawrence to be concise and manageable.

I've noticed, however, that if my students keep a Surgical Recall in their coat pocket and USE IT, they come off looking much better during pimp rounds and appear more prepared in the OR. It's just so dense with facts: you can come in first thing in the morning, see that a patient with pancreatitis was admitted overnight, pull out your book and read - in three minutes - every important factoid about pancreatitis. Every subject is condensed down to a few pages. Easy to get through, easy to remember, easy to regurgitate on demand.

You'll always come out looking good, baby!

 

For IM, check to see which text your school is using for writing exams and use that for studying for lecture-based tests. If it is something like baby Cecil's then you will need something a little more indepth for reading about your patient's problems. For wards reading, I've done a combination of uptodate, Harrisons (for reading more about the pathophysiology), and Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment.
Your best bet may be to either look at texts that your friends have purchased or browse the bookstore to see which book fits your style of reading.
Good luck!

 

For all clerkships, you should pick a small review book that you will read cover-to-cover and use a larger reference text to read up on the patients you see. You will take a test on MEDICINE or SURGERY, so reading only on "Bob's patients," will not be adequate. However, you want to go the extra mile on your patients/cases because you will most likely be pimped on these and want to show you're not an idiot. This goes DOUBLY so for patients you will present formally, at conferences, etc.

Now specifically, for medicine I would suggest "Guide to Internal Medicine," and perhaps Blueprints in Medicine for your review books. I wasn't a big fan of the pretest series.

For surgery, get "Surgical Recall" for the wards and something like Lawrence (a bigger book, but if you read it cover to cover you'll probably do well on the test). Blueprints in surgery is a waste of money.

mike