Books for Surgery rotation?

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Nicholaus

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Just wondering what books you guys recommend for my Surgery rotation? I already have "Essentials of Surgery" by Lawrence for my primary text. Just wanted to know what are some good pocket sized Surgery books?

Thanks in advance :)
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Kaplan/Pestana Surgery Notes - Short and very high yield
NMS Casebook - Longer but very good
BRS Surgery - Very long but very complete. Use only if you finish the first two

Rapid Recall Surgery - Good only for pimp questions. Will not help (much) for the shelf

Pretest Surgery = Crap
 
There are threads in the Clinical Rotations forum dealing with this question and there is a Sticked thread at the top of this page.

Surgical Recall is the classic pocket book for your rotation, although realistically is it too big for your pocket.

I prefer Mount Reid Surgical Handbook.

Moving to Clinical Rotations forum...
 
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Thanks for the advice!

I decided to go with Surgical Recall and the Mont Reid Surgical Handbook.

 
I decided to go with Surgical Recall and the Mont Reid Surgical Handbook.

Awesome! Those are 2 excellent books. Remember to do the necessary review/reading before your surgical case. #1 priority is to know your anatomy.
 
Thanks for the advice!

I decided to go with Surgical Recall and the Mont Reid Surgical Handbook.


Umm I don't know what Mont Reid Surgical Handbook is, but I hope it is something that will help for the shelf. Because surgical recall is not a useful study tool whatsoever for the shelf. Unless you want to go into surgery I wouldn't even touch that book other to prepare the night before a case so you know the answers to pimp questions. You could read all 600+ pages of that book and fail the shelf. I would recommend NMS casebook and/or pestana notes for doing well on the shelf.
 
in addition to the above:

I've found Surgery Casefiles to be a good read, but it seems to be more shelf oriented than patient care. It's on the larger side, but it does fit into a pocket. Recall seems to be more wards oriented, it is pocket sized.


edit: actually, I spent a good chunk of this evening reading Recall. I still think it's less shelf oriented, but a good read-through would be useful.
 
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Umm I don't know what Mont Reid Surgical Handbook is, but I hope it is something that will help for the shelf. Because surgical recall is not a useful study tool whatsoever for the shelf. Unless you want to go into surgery I wouldn't even touch that book other to prepare the night before a case so you know the answers to pimp questions. You could read all 600+ pages of that book and fail the shelf. I would recommend NMS casebook and/or pestana notes for doing well on the shelf.

The OP did NOT ask what books were good for the shelf.

He asked what a good surgical handbook was.

The Mount Reid is an excellent one and is used by many surgical students and residents in the US who are interested in more than the shelf.

Surgical Recall is good for pimping questions before one goes into the OR. Every attending I know asks questions from it.

In terms of the shelf exam, I understand these aren't the best resources but that's not what the OP asked about.
 
The OP did NOT ask what books were good for the shelf.

He asked what a good surgical handbook was.

The Mount Reid is an excellent one and is used by many surgical students and residents in the US who are interested in more than the shelf.

Surgical Recall is good for pimping questions before one goes into the OR. Every attending I know asks questions from it.

In terms of the shelf exam, I understand these aren't the best resources but that's not what the OP asked about.

Easy there buddy. I didn't disagree with the quality of either of those books. The OP did not ask what a good surgical handbook was. He asked what a good pocket sized surgery book was. Casefiles fits in a pocket. NMS casebook not quite but almost fits in a pocket. Pestana notes fit in a pocket.

The person who posted immediately before you was also under the assumption that the OP was looking for general review books for studying, so I don't think I was out of line with my recommendation. Just wanted to make sure OP knew that studying those texts exclusively would not be a good strategy for the shelf.
 
Easy there buddy. I didn't disagree with the quality of either of those books. The OP did not ask what a good surgical handbook was. He asked what a good pocket sized surgery book was. Casefiles fits in a pocket. NMS casebook not quite but almost fits in a pocket. Pestana notes fit in a pocket.

The person who posted immediately before you was also under the assumption that the OP was looking for general review books for studying, so I don't think I was out of line with my recommendation. Just wanted to make sure OP knew that studying those texts exclusively would not be a good strategy for the shelf.

Fair enough. Since you commented that you didn't know what the Mount Reid Handbook was it was my impression you didn't know what good surgery handbooks/books that fit into your coat pocket were as this is a widely used book.

I apologize if I misinterpreted your post.
 
In the end, all I used was NMS Cases, which is much thinner and actually fun to read compared to the plain NMS text. You can actually get through the whole thing and come away with it feeling you would know what to do when faced with one of the problems. It is more in story form than outline form which is nice and also focuses on both diagnosis and management so it prepares you for oral exams as well, which my school required for surgery.
 
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