So, it was my intern year. I was the intern on OB/GYN, L&D floor. All of the real OB residents seemed to busy, or just didnt' seem to care to teach to the M3 students... and often times I would get an M3 who would come up to me and say "Dude, what do I need to do when I round on a patient with pre-eclampsia (or post partum, or whatever)." I looked at them incredulously, having forgotten what it was like to really have to start seeing patients on your own as an M3. So, I wrote up a quick guide for the students on the OB rotation.
What you needed to know, pathophys wise and basic info wise on major topics (preeclampsia, post partum hemorrhage, mastitis, miscarriages, prolonged labor, PPROM, etc), what they needed to ask the patient (history), what they should look for (physical), what appropriate tests to order, and "pearls" that the OB residents and attendings always asked.
I handed this out to the students, and they all universally loved it. It got me thinking. There should be a book like that.
The aim of the book was to get any medical student able to know what htye need to know within 2-3 minutes of reading my book. Lets say your residents says you have to go down to the ER to admit a patient with chest pain (or lets say you're on your psych rotation and you have to write a progress note on a patient with schizophrenia or depression). You read the appropriate chapter in the book, learn what oyu need to ask on your history, what you need to find on your physical exam, what labs you should order or should have ordered, what is the general treatment of the disease, and a list of "Pearls" that people always asked on. Also included in each topic is an "evidenced based medicine" section. So, you can tell your attending/reisdent after you present your patient "we know that venous serum ammonia levels are congruent with arterial ammonia levels, contrary to what other people think. There was an article on it in Jama of 04 by Barton."
Nice. Very handy and a smallish book to easily fit in your labcoat. And its useful on ALL your rotations (surg, family, peds, psych, IM, EM, OB, whatever).
Hope this helps!
Quinn
