Clerkship books

[Mass Effect]

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In looking at threads about which books are good for clerkship self exams, I find myself wondering how you guys are reading these books? For example, Surgical Recall was recommended. It's 800 pages. How are you reading 800 pages during four weeks of surgery? Aren't the surgery hours brutal?

 

[hrandani]

Pre-read during cake rotations.

Also, it helps that I have 12 weeks of surgery.

 

[KnuxNole]

Surgical recall is terrible for the shelf exam. It's only good for pimp questions, and if you wanna focus on the shelf, try to find Pestana notes and just read that. Classmates of mine have used the NMS casebook which I've heard good things about. I was given CaseFiles: Surgery for free, and it was an ok source, but Pestana is KEY imo.

And yes, surgery hours are brutal, but I'm sure there is downtime where you can either go to a library/lounge and read

Always have something to read in your white coat pocket, that way on busy days where the above won't work, you can spend some time doing a quick read. So, while waiting for your intern to finish dictations before you do that I+D or dressing changes, you can read for 15 mins. Or...while waiting for the OR to get cleared up and for the patient to arrive at the OR, you can read a bit.

Or...if you are able to take an hour or so at home and read. But, I know for surgery, this can be a bit tough, seeing as the first thing on your mind is to 😴

 

[Perrotfish]

In looking at threads about which books are good for clerkship self exams, I find myself wondering how you guys are reading these books? For example, Surgical Recall was recommended. It's 800 pages. How are you reading 800 pages during four weeks of surgery? Aren't the surgery hours brutal?

Surgical recall is a reference book you use for the next day's procedures. Like you look up the page on cholecystectomies right before you go scrub into one. It's useless for the shelf. Similar books include harrison's for medicine and Nelson's for Pediatrics.

For the shelf you're going to read shorter review books and do lots of practice questions. Blueprints, Step up, and ACP essentials are all good bets.