Cecil vs Harrison

[DianaLynne]

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During my end of the month eval, my attending told me it's time to invest in a real medicine text. I've been using "baby" Cecil's and like it fine. Does anyone have an opinion on the full edition Cecil's vs. Harrisons?

 

[cbass1350]

My recommendation would be to stick with the small Cecil unless you are serious about going into IM. In that case, I would say Harrison is the way to go. I have a friend who is an IM resident and he swears by it.

 

[JayneCobb]

Neither. At least for the moment. Both are coming out with new editions soon. Cecil's in November/December-ish and Harrison's next February. I'm partial to Harrison's, but my residency uses Cecil's and it does the job as well and has just as much information even though it might be a hair less into the biochemical/genetics of some of the sections as Harrison's is.

 

[njbmd]

During my end of the month eval, my attending told me it's time to invest in a real medicine text. I've been using "baby" Cecil's and like it fine. Does anyone have an opinion on the full edition Cecil's vs. Harrisons?

You can sign up for a free 30-day trial of MDConsult and access the full-text version of Big Cecil's online. It's a good and cheap way to figure out if you like the book. I used Cecil's Essentials when I was in my third-year clerkship and used Harrison's (on-line version from the library-my medical school was very wired) for reports and things like that. Since I ended up as a surgeon, I saved loads of money by not purchasing these texts that I probably would not use after third year.

If you are going into IM, you can keep your MDConsult subscription past the 30 days and keep using Cecil's. Your medical library of the hospital that you end up in residency or your medical school most likely has Harrison's on-line.
In terms of the two, I prefer Harrison's (I like the organization) to Cecil's but either is OK for consultation.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Since I am a book *****, I own both.

I used Cecil's in medical school because I preferred the way it was written, although as njbmd notes, Harrison is easier to find stuff in.

She further has a good idea about checking the books out on-line and seeing if you have a preference. If you aren't going into IM I cannot see spending the money for a very expensive book which you can find in any library or on-line.

 

[Old_Mil]

During my end of the month eval, my attending told me it's time to invest in a real medicine text. I've been using "baby" Cecil's and like it fine. Does anyone have an opinion on the full edition Cecil's vs. Harrisons?

I like Cecil's better than Harrison's ... but after I bought Cecil's, I found a British book: Davidson's Textbook of Medicine, that I like far better than either Cecil's or Harrison's.

 

[Blade28]

I bought Harrison's as a med student, and brought it up here with me for residency, but honestly haven't even opened it yet since I started.

So I agree with cbass1350 - wait until you know that you're going into IM.

 

[sandg]

During my end of the month eval, my attending told me it's time to invest in a real medicine text. I've been using "baby" Cecil's and like it fine. Does anyone have an opinion on the full edition Cecil's vs. Harrisons?

Curious if that was meant as a compliment or a criticism?

By the way, I used a bit of both in Med 2 and prefer Harrisons. For the sections I looked at, I thought it was better organized and thus easier to find the answer to the question I had.