Books for Surgery

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I am starting 3rd year next week & I was going through some of my stuff trying to sort out what resources I would need for surgery. I realized that I have way too many books to study for surgery & I was wondering what most people use to help study for both pimping sessions & shelf exams.

Thanks
 
Just finished Surgery, so...

Pimp Prep: Can't beat Surgical Recall. I think they're coming out with a new edition about now. Also, I rather liked the Mont Reid Surgical Handbook. Written by residents for residents, and thus is very concise and very high-yield.

Shelf: We had quizzes on material from Lawrence (some of the questions straight from the book), so everyone used that. Thsoe questions are pretty good. There's a second Lawrence book that covers the subspecialties that isn't quite as good. Otherwise, I know some folks used First Aid (for Step 2 and for Surgery). Finally, I think I got the most use out of A&L. Those questions kick your butt, but you learn a bunch from the explanations.

Also, be advised that at least 60% of the shelf is not pure surgery - lots of overlap with medicine, and even some OB/GYN stuff thrown in just for grins.
 
I echo the above, although I thought that First Aid for Surgery was a worthless, worthless book.

I had surgery first so I used NMS (we have a 12 week rotation in surgery). I did all the questions in NMS, most of the questions in Lawrence, and even more questions from Step 2 CK question books. I had surgery first as well, and it still ended up being one of my highest shelf grades using these resources (i.e. doing as many questions as possible).
 
I agree that questions are the best way to learn. Granted I just finished this rotation, so I was burned out with studying. But I did pretest, A and L, and read Surg Recall for surgeries, pts, etc. I wrote a topic about a good version of pretest that you can get for your palm. This was great for surgery because you always have these small windows of free time. Just do a search for brainglue palm to find it.
 
do u guys think that the 2nd edition of surg recall is allright? got it for free...
also, i was told by the redident friend not to get the antimicrobial guide b/c the drug reps give it out all the time.
 
PTOSIS said:
do u guys think that the 2nd edition of surg recall is allright? got it for free...
also, i was told by the redident friend not to get the antimicrobial guide b/c the drug reps give it out all the time.
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I don't think its just fine. I KNOW its just fine 🙂 The 2nd edition was what I was able to borrow for free, and it had everything I wanted for pimp prep in it. I can't imagine that they change that book significantly from one edition to the next.

I don't know about the antimicrobial guide (Sanford?). I bought mine for my Medicine rotation. Its only like $10, and you'll look good if you have it on you when someone asks for it, like when my chief asked for a 3-drug regimen to treat H. pylori, and I was the only one that had it.
 
grunermann said:
I wrote a topic about a good version of pretest that you can get for your palm. This was great for surgery because you always have these small windows of free time. Just do a search for brainglue palm to find it.
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Is there a PPC version?
 
NateatUC said:
I don't know about the antimicrobial guide (Sanford?). I bought mine for my Medicine rotation. Its only like $10, and you'll look good if you have it on you when someone asks for it, like when my chief asked for a 3-drug regimen to treat H. pylori, and I was the only one that had it.
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That sounds great but when you're on rounds, is it okay to be thumbing through a pocket book looking for an answer? Doesn't that look weird?
 
Pox in a box said:
That sounds great but when you're on rounds, is it okay to be thumbing through a pocket book looking for an answer? Doesn't that look weird?
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Only if you're the one being interrogated. It's great if you know the answer without looking, and you should pay attention when patients are being presented. But there are lots of little stretches of time where you can quickly thumb through a pocket book or search your PDA for a pertinent fact or two.
 
Does anyone have any experience with the book Most Commons in Surgery by Edward Goljan (Publisher: W.B. Saunders Company, June 15, 2001). ISBN: 0721692915.
 
Hello,

Just have a quick question actually... the surgical recall is just the regular one right ??? NOt the one that is "advance surgical recall" ??

Also, people talked about the "lawrence" book... is that the "essential of general surgery" ???

I was just planning to purhcase those two books for surgery rotation.. think it is enough or would I need more ??
 
sia_simba said:
Hello,

Just have a quick question actually... the surgical recall is just the regular one right ??? NOt the one that is "advance surgical recall" ??

Also, people talked about the "lawrence" book... is that the "essential of general surgery" ???

I was just planning to purhcase those two books for surgery rotation.. think it is enough or would I need more ??
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Good ol' regular surgical recall is appropriate for 3rd yrs...advanced surg recall is written more for subI's/surgery residents. And yes, lawrence essentials is what you want as a primary text, not the subspecialty book. You may want to snag a question book type of resource (pretest, appleton and lange, etc) in addition to these. good luck.
 
My school didn't make us do the shelf (we had a med-school generated exam), but I found the following useful:

- Surg Recall: Awesome way to start the rotation, saves the day with tips about history taking, writing your notes on the ward, common procedures, and even little things like suture types/anatomy pearls/wound healing. As mentioned, it's also invaluable for reading about a case 10 mins before you have to scrub in. Later in the rotation, I found it more useful for anatomy and quickly reviewing major topics in 10-15 min spurts.

- Underground Clinical Vignettes: Nice format that flows logically from a brief case to an HPI-Physical Exam-Workup-Prognosis-Treatment, all within 2 pages usually. Covers the 60 or so most common surgical issues but is weak in the subspecialties (Recall is much better in that respect). The book is a little superficial but considering you only have a few weeks to learn so much it's a good way of covering everything in an easy to read format.

- Emedicine.com: For more detailed surgeries, it's a great resource for the step-by-step approach for the entire process. I used articles from here to prepare for my oral exam.
 
bigfrank said:
Got shelf exam back today -- 99th percentile.

Very pleased with Surgical Recall (twice through), Pretest (once-through), and Appleton & Lange question book (once through, taking notes).

You will NOT be asked questions on any shelf exam or the Step II about ventilator settings. Don't worry about that.
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wow, congrats! that's awesome!
if you had to choose between the 2 question books, which one is better?
i've heard the A&L has a lot of mistakes? is that true?

thanks!
 
eunice said:
wow, congrats! that's awesome!
if you had to choose between the 2 question books, which one is better?
i've heard the A&L has a lot of mistakes? is that true?

thanks!
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If I had to choose ONE, I'd go with A&L. I'd do both, however.
 
bigfrank said:
If I had to choose ONE, I'd go with A&L. I'd do both, however.
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so did anyone else find errors in A&L surgery?
i've heard from more than one source(reviews at amazon.com) that A&L has lots of errors.
is this true??

thanks!
 
Essentials of Surgery: Scientific Principles and Practice by Lazar 2nd edition
Current Surgical Therapy by Cameron 8th edition

Best combo!
 
Hey guys, quick question about Surgical Recall. Is it better to have Surgical Recall in paperback for portability? I'm currently purchasing my books for my surgery rotation online, and I noticed that S.R. is ~750 pages.

Whattdya think, better to go with hardcover or stick w/ paperback?

Thanks muchos in advance.
 
the 4th edition, for some reason, comes up as hardcover in the online descriptions, but I believe it's still a paperback.
get the latest version, of course!

bobznew said:
Hey guys, quick question about Surgical Recall. Is it better to have Surgical Recall in paperback for portability? I'm currently purchasing my books for my surgery rotation online, and I noticed that S.R. is ~750 pages.

Whattdya think, better to go with hardcover or stick w/ paperback?

Thanks muchos in advance.
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joshua_msu said:
What about books specifically for a Urology rotation? Any suggestions?
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Urology Secrets, and if you want more try Smith's General Urology. If you need more details on a topic, Campbell's Urology is the place to look.
 
I think a great book people have failed to mention is NMS Surgery Casebook.

I went through this about 3 times and while it is not all you need, it does a great job and keeps things super simple in a quick read. I also skimmed (literally) through both BRS books, did some PreTest, and used Mont Reid Handbook while in the hospital. I also read a little bit of Case Files.

Didn't use Recall at all, our pimping questions never came from that book so it was a waste for me.

While I did have medicine a couple months before surg, I don't think you need Lawerence. I can't imagine having tried to read that book while I was so sleep deprived. I ended up with a 87/whatever percent that turns out to be.

I think the most important thing was my determination to honor on the wards and while studying. Use whatever format works for you, long paragraphs or bullet points, just be efficient.
 
I think the most important thing was my determination to honor on the wards and while studying. Use whatever format works for you, long paragraphs or bullet points, just be efficient.[/QUOTE]

I agree with seabass on this, esp for surgery. I didn't find any books that I read religiously for the shelf, like I had with previous rotations (e.g. First Aid, MKSAP- medicine) The big texts were not my thing, esp after 12 hrs in the hospital. I read the first few chapters of a general surgery text to read about wound healing, post-op complications, hernias, SBOs. I skimmed through NMS, which was too detailed for me, did all of the NMS questions. I hated PreTest and stopped after the first two sections. I read all of Casefiles, which was decent. Recall was helpful, esp for prepping before cases. If you can memorize and apply what's in it, you'll do well on the shelf.

I thought the surgery shelf was one of the hardest shelfs, and no resource really prepared me for it. The fact that I took it at the end of the year and had taken other NBME tests helped me. I ended up doing pretty well-87, but didn't feel that way at the end of the exam!
 
treasurefull2 said:
Any updates???
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My 2 cents:
- Books: Lawrence: the "required" text at my rotation, we have daily lectures and I prep by reading the relevant chapter, you'll read nearly the whole thing this way
- Surgical Recall: KEEP ON YOU AT ALL TIMES, almost complete enough to substitute for the text
- Current Clinical Strategies Surgery: li'l blue book which is a good pocket guide for preop/postop/admit notes, costs like $8
- You may want to dig out the anatomy book or a medical text to really read in-depth about a particular condition if you know you have a case
- Other: always have scissors on you (grab some suture scissors from the ORs) as well as paper-tape, 2x2s, 4x4s, etc. They love it when you don't have to run off for this stuff for dressing changes
- Others' suggestions for knowing your pts are good ones
 
Does anyone have the CD to Lawrence book? They took it out of the books my school loaned us. Doesn't that CD have questions? Maybe it's a small program to upload???
 
So far what I've done is the following:

Mont-Reid Surgical Handbook: Good for reading before cases, also good for outline-format reviews of the first 10 chapters of Lawrence (fluids, shock, electrolytes, trauma, etc). I have this in my white coat at all times.
Surgical Recall: I have the 2nd edition and it's falling to pieces, but it's GREAT for the 10 minutes in the locker room before you walk into a case. How else would you know Eisenmenger's syndrome for VSDs? Guaranteed you wouldn't remember it unless you just read it. I keep it in my locker.
Lawrence's Essentials of Surgery: Good if you like to read prose. However, the Mont-Reid is basically this book but in outline format. Lots of overlap. I haven't "read" it all the way through per se but the fluids/electrolytes chapter, while dense, I have heard is key for the shelf. Also a good source of questions; read a chapter and do the questions, then do A&L when you're done.
Lawrence's Subspecialties in Surgery: So I did 2 weeks on Plastics and will be doing 2 weeks on Ortho, and also did 2 weeks on Cardiothoracic and a week on Anaesthesia so this came in SUPER handy for the way my surgical clerkship is structured. HOWEVER, i wouldn't suggest you go out and get it just for the shelf if you have a clerkship that only puts you on a general service for 8 weeks. From what I've heard, there were maybe two ENT questions, an ortho question, and maybe 1-2 other subspecialty questions on the whole thing. Focus on other high-yield things.
A&L questions: Have it, haven't started it yet, planning on doing that when I'm *finally* through Lawrence.
Pre-Test: Don't have it, have heard it's good.
NMS: Recommended by our clerkship director. I don't have it.
Pocket Pharmacopoeia: Because I always have it.
Pocket Orthopaedica: Because I'm gonna do 2 weeks on Ortho, and it has nice little cross-sectional anatomy diagrams for the limbs.
Student Essentials of Plastic Surgery: Cuz it was given to me for free by my plastics chief resident. And it's got great info on free flaps, craniofacial reconstructions etc that Lawrence's Subspecialties didn't have. (I was amazed - Lawrence doesn't even MENTION cleft lip repairs).
Pocket Atlas of Anatomy: Because I like anatomy, and it fits in my pocket. I wouldn't have remembered the transverse and oblique sinuses in the mediastinum otherwise. . . silly me. Also: yes, my white coat does weigh about 20 lbs. But you can always rely on me for scissors!

Advice from my classmates who took the shelf a month or so ago pretty much ran to the effect of "Don't bother studying because it won't help you anyway". Advice that was more USEFUL was "questions are the best thing to study; don't read texts" and "definitely focus on those illnesses that don't necessarily REQUIRE a surgical intervention. Know when NOT to cut."

I'm nervous. T minus 4 weeks and counting.
 
I would agree with your classmates. I studied but felt like I would have scored what I scored irrespective of how much I studied. After reading Lawrence cover to cover I can't say that it helped me with any aspect of the shelf at all. However, because I want to go into surgery I figured it would be prudent to have actually read a text book prior to residency.
 
I figure I'll use Lawrence as a primary text, Recall for Preop reading, and a question book. Right now I have Pretest and Blueprints Step 2 question book for Surgery. Nobody has said anything about Blueprints, any comments?
 
I liked the Blueprints question book, in addition to Kaplan Qbank questions. I didn't do the Blueprints review book.
 
Has anyone else tried using the Kaplan Surgery questions? Ive heard theyre REALLY good for the shelf (I have mine in about a week). There are about 150 or so, ya?
 
*bump*

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? 5 days till the Shelf, and its not looking pretty...
 
Just took the surgery shelf, not sure how I did but I feel ok about it. It wasn't the absolute nightmare I was expecting (I haven't had medicine yet). Take it with a grain of salt, because I haven't gotten my score back yet, but I think you can do pretty well on this thing (> 80) with the following:

1) NMS Casebook - read it 4 times, cover to cover. It teaches you how to think like the shelf exam, and its good for nailing down the "next-step".

2) Kaplan Step 2 Surgery Notes - read it 3+ times. Written by Pestana, but more comprehensive than the pestana questions floating around on the web. Excellent for nailing down the subspecialties not covered in NMS surgery. By the way, the kaplan qbook surgery questions are ridiculously easy after you've done the note packet, so I'd stick with the notes.

3) Pretest - 1.5 times though. Good but harder than the real-deal. People will drop this too soon because they're discouraged at missing so many questions. That's the whole idea, isn't it?

4) A+L - 2 times though. Much better than people give it credit for. The typos are annoying, but don't detract overall from the value.

5) USMLEWorld - the surgery questions (~170 total) are extremely high yield, excellent for nailing down ortho and trauma questions.

6) Recall - I only read maybe 20% of this book, almost always right before a case. Not sure how much it helped.


That may look like a lot to get through, but it really wasn't. My surgical rotation was 8 weeks, and I was usually in the hospital for 12 hrs/day, then went to the library to study for 2-4hrs afterward. If you do that everyday for 8 wks, you can easily get through all that material.

Again, NMS was absolutely vital, and the Kaplan step 2 stuff gave me probably 20 of the questions on the real deal without thinking. So if you use those two resources, I think you'll be in good shape.

HamOn
 
Anyone try the newer NMS Surgery (not the casebook, but the actual textbook) or Step-Up for Surgery? I know step-up is too new for anyone to have really used it, but I'm considering one of those two to compliment NMS Surgery Casebook/Surgical Recall and not sure which to go for, and since both are pretty new, can't find much feedback on them
 
I read NMS casebook twice, did pre-test once, read lawrence once through, and read the Kaplan surgery notes twice through. I ended up with a 99. Good luck!
 
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Forgive me if my searching and sifting has failed, but I can't seem to find any specific advice on what to do if you have surgery before medicine (which is my situation). Anyone find particular sources to be helpful in this case?
 
Anyone want to help me out with some suggestions? I have a six week rotation, so I don't think I'll be able to get through quite as many books as others seem to do. I'll have had ob-gyn and 2 weeks each of ENT and urology before my gen surgery rotation. I was thinking I'd use NMS casebook and lawrence, plus a question book.

Think I'll be able to do that in 6 weeks or is there a better plan? Are the kaplan ck surgery notes a good addition, or substitution for lawrence? Or, there any opinions on the NMS surgery textbook or step up to surgery? Also, is there any sort of consensus at all on a source for question source? It seems like opinions are all over the map on this.
 
I haven't taken the shelf yet and am in the middle of my rotation but from what I've read on these forums, it seems like the most popular way people approach it is

NMS Case
Pestana Cases
A qbank (I'm doing Kaplan and saving UW for Step 2)
 
I actually followed this advice and read (1) Kaplan Notes x 3, (2) 2005 NMS Case book x 1, (3) UWorld surgery questions + GI, and (4) Pestana Notes x 1.5

I took the shelf 10 days ago and felt very well prepared for the surgery shelf following this routine. I will say that my surgery rotation is 8 weeks and I am a huge soccer fan (played in college) so I watched the world-cup for the first two weeks of my rotation and then studied my rear end off for the last 6 weeks following the above routine.

I'll get my score back sometime this week, most likely. I also will say that I have not taken medicine yet. So, I felt that you could be decently prepared for this thing without medicine. My goal is between a 75 and 85...some of the above scores are ridiculously high. 79 is honors at my school.

Just some "new" thoughts to the same ol' good thread. The formula still works.
 
HamOnWholeWheat said:
3) Pretest - 1.5 times though. Good but harder than the real-deal. People will drop this too soon because they're discouraged at missing so many questions. That's the whole idea, isn't it?
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I understand that the PreTest Surgery qbook is harder than the actual shelf (as pointed out here several times).

But I'm ok with that, as long as the content is relevant. So my question is: Did you all feel that the content of PreTest was on target, or too detailed, not detailed enough???

I like PreTest b/c it provides a high volume of questions, sectioned by topics. This allows you to focus your studying . .. . so for instance, if I feel I'm week on trauma, I can read up about it in the Kaplan notes, then go to PreTest to answer questions in the trauma section. Did anybody take this approach? Thoughts/comments???
 
Is the NMS casebook people are talking about the one from 2002? Trying to find it on Amazon but don't wanna buy the wrong one!
 
Starting surgery soon -- coming off of medicine. I'm trying to get away from having to carry books around... even the green book for my medicine rotation.

Thinking about buying Pretest for the iPhone.

So my questions are: one, is pretest for surgery as good as I've been told, and two, are there any other "preferred" books/apps available in the App Store that I might be able to use for my minimalistic ways?
 
It's tough to prepare for the surgery shelf. I took it 6 months ago and don't really remember what was on it.

Surgical recall: useless
NMS Surgery was alright
NMS Surgery casebook was pretty good

Reading Cope's Early Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen was helpful too.
 
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