Clueless new 3rd year

[hopefulmed]

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I will be starting family medicine clerkship on Monday and to be honest, I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. At this point, I just know to show up not looking like a bum. I was wondering what are the popular resources to use during this rotation. I tried reading all the history, but I'm utterly confused because every single person praise and different books, and then there are different books for Step 2. Any clarification is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[kat82]

i am a 4th year and can totally remember feeling that way. my advice is, dont worry about it too much. realize that they have zero expectations from you at this point and you are not supposed to know anything yet. you are there to LEARN, remember? the bar is set very low at your stage in the game. the most important things are to try your best and act interested.

i didnt really get the hang of it and feel really comfortable until maybe 1/2 way through third year. just ask lots of questions. even silly ones like how do i write a soap note, how do i preround? etc? i found it helpful to ask 4th years because i didnt feel as dumb asking them, and they were always more than willing to help

so, good luck tomorrow! remember, youre supposed to start on day 1 knowing nothing!

 

[AmoryBlaine]

AB's #1 piece of generic advice to all medical students:

Find 2-3 upperclassmen to be your "go-to" people for questions. Ignore all other advice. Make sure they are at "your level" i.e. if you are someone who struggles for a Pass don't talk to the 2 guys battling it out for valedictorian.

 

[excalibur]

For psych, there was this great pocket book I used. It was green, very small, and the title was Psychiatry...sorry no more info than that. I got it at our med school bookstore. It was like 80 to 100 pages, and you could read it all in a night, and I'm a slow reader. It had all the criteria for diagnosing all the major psych disorders, the personality disorders, mostly DSM IV stuff. It was great. Only book I used. Read it sparingly, and did fine on rotation and test.

 

[EM_Rebuilder]

Case Files for every rotation. Its very readable during your time in a clerkship. It present a case, allows you a few questions to think about. It discusses the case and drives home a few learning points, and lastly each case has a few multiple choice questions.


It has become the gold standard for many schools. It will get your through any rotation, read it at least once. If you have time, make a second pass...

 

[abefromann]

Learn how to present a patient and what is relevant (gets clearer as you go) and how to write a good SOAP note with separate A and P. Read a book or chapter about these early and try to get good quickly. Attendings like it.