I have step 2 ck in about 2 weeks time. So far I think I'm pretty good at Cardio, Gastro, Nephro, and Pulmo. On the other hand I suck at IDs, hem/onc and surprisingly endo. I have trouble remembering which organism causes which and so forth. How did you guys get these areas down? And how heavy is the ck with IDs, hem/onc and endo?
Having trouble learning infectious diseases
- Thread starter Drjerry
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2010
- Messages
- 774
- Reaction score
- 35
It all depends on your test, but you can expect a good about of endo and basic heme (you'll get a buttload of anemias). ID is a crapshoot. You could have a ton of it, or a small spattering. I can't think of a good text that condenses all the ID from each different subject into one. It's usually best covered in individual IM/Peds/OB texts. It would be worth organizing it that way in your mind, and reviewing those select chapters in your texts.
If you're absolutely boned on time - Secrets.
If you're absolutely boned on time - Secrets.
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2010
- Messages
- 774
- Reaction score
- 35
Haha. I would have failed a test like that... badly.
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2010
- Messages
- 70
- Reaction score
- 0
me too. For ID, just focus on the big things like pneumonias, meningitis, endocarditis, skin infections, Diarrhea, HIV (probably the most tested), pediatric respiratory infections, STDs (try and the get the differences in males versus females in these), when to treat inpatient vs outpatient. Usuallly, the exam has a clinical twist on a common illness, for example - throat infection - do you swab or give antibiotics, which is warranted in what clinical findings...
For me ID was fun to learn, because its probably the one specialty where you can actually use the information you learnt to advise family members almost instantly. 🙂
