"Cramming" for Surgery

[Stagg737]

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Let's say you only had 1 month of surgery rotation instead of 2. What materials would you use/prioritize to study for your shelf (other than UWorld Surgical questions)?

 

[sloop]

Let's say you only had 1 month of surgery rotation instead of 2. What materials would you use/prioritize to study for your shelf (other than UWorld Surgical questions)?

Pestana's

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

-Pestana's
-NMS Surgery (the textbook, not cases) The End-of-Chapter questions are gold. If really low on time you can skip the specialty surgery chapters (plastics, uro), but DO NOT skip ortho bc of trauma questions.
-SUTM, GI Medicine Chapter

Used these 3 resources, scored 98th percentile (still didn't make honors 🙁)

 

[Goro]

Where's @SouthernSurgeon when you need him????

Let's say you only had 1 month of surgery rotation instead of 2. What materials would you use/prioritize to study for your shelf (other than UWorld Surgical questions)?

 

[Stagg737]

-Pestana's
-NMS Surgery (the textbook, not cases) The End-of-Chapter questions are gold. If really low on time you can skip the specialty surgery chapters (plastics, uro), but DO NOT skip ortho bc of trauma questions.
-SUTM, GI Medicine Chapter

Used these 3 resources, scored 98th percentile (still didn't make honors 🙁)

Was planning on reading Pestanza, and I've been told by attendings Surgical Recall is solid. I'm just trying to be realistic about how much time I'm going to have to study and wondering if I'll have time for UWorld (planning on doing surgery and a good number of IM questions), Pestanza AND another 600-700 page text. I've also heard that the surgery shelf is ~75% IM or more, so I'm debating on how much time to actually put into the surgery portion of studying vs. IM (50/50? 25/75?). I'm trying to figure it out because I did pretty mediocre on IM which was a while ago, and basically have one month to study for surgery (did the first month in the fall).

 

[Doctor Strange]

Surgical Recall is 100% useless for the shelf.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using SDN mobile

 

[Redpancreas]

I know you want to avoid text but so many (on SDN) and in my class have recommended this book saying it helped on the shelf: Amazon product ASIN 1493917250
Also, use Holliday's review: The University of Texas Health Science Center - School of Medicine

 

[xffan624]

Was planning on reading Pestanza, and I've been told by attendings Surgical Recall is solid. I'm just trying to be realistic about how much time I'm going to have to study and wondering if I'll have time for UWorld (planning on doing surgery and a good number of IM questions), Pestanza AND another 600-700 page text. I've also heard that the surgery shelf is ~75% IM or more, so I'm debating on how much time to actually put into the surgery portion of studying vs. IM (50/50? 25/75?). I'm trying to figure it out because I did pretty mediocre on IM which was a while ago, and basically have one month to study for surgery (did the first month in the fall).

Pestana alone is practically enough to get you a decent grade, especially if you already had IM (even with a mediocre grade). I did the book and audio lectures (adds a couple more nuggets). I also used an 150 question ANKI deck that was pretty much Pestana in anki form. Found it on the anki web site "Surgical Clerkship Quick Review".

Surgical Recall is great for the clerkship to review surgeries before jumping in to the OR. For the shelf, as stated previously, it's pretty much useless.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

Was planning on reading Pestanza, and I've been told by attendings Surgical Recall is solid. I'm just trying to be realistic about how much time I'm going to have to study and wondering if I'll have time for UWorld (planning on doing surgery and a good number of IM questions), Pestanza AND another 600-700 page text. I've also heard that the surgery shelf is ~75% IM or more, so I'm debating on how much time to actually put into the surgery portion of studying vs. IM (50/50? 25/75?). I'm trying to figure it out because I did pretty mediocre on IM which was a while ago, and basically have one month to study for surgery (did the first month in the fall).

Surgical recall is great for potential pimp questions, but unfortunately not the shelf.

Also if you are wanting to use UWORLD, you best do the ~150 surgery questions and the ~1400 IMED questions. The surgery questions in UWORLD alone are insufficient to prepare for the shelf. I did just those questions and took a practice surgery shelf and bombed it.

 

[Stagg737]

Pestana alone is practically enough to get you a decent grade, especially if you already had IM (even with a mediocre grade). I did the book and audio lectures (adds a couple more nuggets). I also used an 150 question ANKI deck that was pretty much Pestana in anki form. Found it on the anki web site "Surgical Clerkship Quick Review".

Surgical Recall is great for the clerkship to review surgeries before jumping in to the OR. For the shelf, as stated previously, it's pretty much useless.

I've heard that, I'm just worried it won't be enough because it's so short. Interesting to hear people saying Recall is useless since I've had a few people recommend it...

I know you want to avoid text but so many (on SDN) and in my class have recommended this book saying it helped on the shelf: Amazon product ASIN 1493917250
Also, use Holliday's review: The University of Texas Health Science Center - School of Medicine

Already looked over Holliday's stuff and will be reviewing it a few more times. Also, the Amazon link is just to the home page, not sure what book you're recommending...

 

[Stagg737]

General question, is there a lot of pharm on the IM portion of the surgery shelf or is it more of the diagnostic testing, path, and clinical treatment type of questions?

Surgical recall is great for potential pimp questions, but unfortunately not the shelf.

Also if you are wanting to use UWORLD, you best do the ~150 surgery questions and the ~1400 IMED questions. The surgery questions in UWORLD alone are insufficient to prepare for the shelf. I did just those questions and took a practice surgery shelf and bombed it.

Was planning on doing surgery questions + ~800 IM questions (40/day), particularly relevant ob/gyn, renal, cardio, pulm, GI, and ortho. Figured that would be enough to be a decent refresher.

 

[byaaaaaaah23]

Pestana isn't really detailed enough to do well on shelf. I liked the NMS casebook and text, as well as UWorld IM and surgery questions

 

[Stagg737]

Pestana isn't really detailed enough to do well on shelf. I liked the NMS casebook and text, as well as UWorld IM and surgery questions

That's kind of what I figured (I'm not really hoping to honor this one or anything, just do decently). My concern is actually having the time to get through 700 pages + 1,000ish questions + Pestana + potentially another source. I'd like to spend a decent amount of time reviewing IM, so my time learning/studying surgery materials is limited. How tough was NMS to get through? Is it reasonable to get through 30ish pages in an hour or so (I'm not the fastest reader)?

 

[sliceofbread136]

That's kind of what I figured (I'm not really hoping to honor this one or anything, just do decently). My concern is actually having the time to get through 700 pages + 1,000ish questions + Pestana + potentially another source. I'd like to spend a decent amount of time reviewing IM, so my time learning/studying surgery materials is limited. How tough was NMS to get through? Is it reasonable to get through 30ish pages in an hour or so (I'm not the fastest reader)?

If you've done medicine then pestanas is enough

 

[Keladry]

I did surgery before medicine, only used Pestana + surgery UWorld + some medicine UWorld (all of GI, some cardio/pulm/resp/renal) and did very well on the shelf. I looked at NMS, tried reading it, hated it. Especially if you've had medicine before, Pestana + UWorld is def enough.

 

[Stagg737]

Thanks for the help people. Current game plan is Pestana + Emma Holliday lecture + UWorld (surgery + 700-800 IM questions). Maybe some Med Ed videos if I feel like I need a refresher. Anyone think I need to add anything else to hit at least a 70 scaled (like I said, not looking to kill this one, just looking to pass comfortably).

 

[ortnakas]

Did surgery before medicine. Had a hard time studying for the shelf, partly due to hours but mostly because I hated it.

Did not rock the shelf exam by any stretch of the imagination, but made it through and passed with reading Pestana x2, OnlineMedEd, and UWorld (just the surgery questions).

Listen to everybody else on how to do well on the surgery shelf, because I can't tell you that. But if you're looking for what you need to just pass it due to time or other constraints, I'm your girl.

 

[Mad Jack]

Let's say you only had 1 month of surgery rotation instead of 2. What materials would you use/prioritize to study for your shelf (other than UWorld Surgical questions)?

Surgical Recall, Case Files: Surgery

 

[Mad Jack]

Pestana isn't really detailed enough to do well on shelf. I liked the NMS casebook and text, as well as UWorld IM and surgery questions

NMS Casebook is solid

 

[byaaaaaaah23]

That's kind of what I figured (I'm not really hoping to honor this one or anything, just do decently). My concern is actually having the time to get through 700 pages + 1,000ish questions + Pestana + potentially another source. I'd like to spend a decent amount of time reviewing IM, so my time learning/studying surgery materials is limited. How tough was NMS to get through? Is it reasonable to get through 30ish pages in an hour or so (I'm not the fastest reader)?

NMS casebook is pretty easy to get through, but the textbook is not at all, so for your goals, I would jettison both. I really thought the casebook was money, since it takes you through variations on different cases so you can really try to visualize how that condition could be presented as different questions on shelf.

That said though, I think the resources you listed will be more than enough to get you your pass. OnlineMedEd is a great addition to the above, especially if you have a commute or just can't read or do questions at the end of the day.

I aimed for >90th percentile on shelfs and I think NMS casebook is a great addition for people looking to go above and beyond, especially for people aiming to go into surgery because I think a lot of pimp questions were in there too. Would only add the textbook if you are super motivated (and for someone not going into surgery it probably did more harm than good since it was so dense). But future surgical residents will probably enjoy it. I really struggled to understand the big picture when on surgery, so the text helped fill in the gaps that I was too intimidated to ask the residents/didn't want them to know how little I actually understood about what we were doing.