how big is hematology

[SkylineMD]

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I was going through goljan's audio and he has dedicated so much time to these topics (RBCs, WBCs, Lymph, coagulation disorders, etc) and noticed that not many people mentioned it as a topic to hit (among those that have taken the exam recently)

How much emphasis does the current step1 exam place on all the hematology topics?

 

[anesthesiarocks]

It's probably no more of no less important than many other organ systems....I wouldn't spend any more or any less time on it than I would with GI path for example. If you include all the anemias, all the lymphomas, all the leukemias, blood coagulation physio and blood coagulation disorders, blood thinners,etc that's a bunch of medium to high yield stuff.

I mean if you want to do well you'll need to know about those things.

 

[winsicle]

so can anyone that has recently taken it comment on this.

i.e., the relative amount of RBC/WBC/Lymph/Coag/Blood Banking (taken all together).

 

[nockamura]

It's not tested any more heavily than any of the other systems. Goljan just spends a lot of time on it because it is so often taught poorly.

 

[anesthesiarocks]

so can anyone that has recently taken it comment on this.

i.e., the relative amount of RBC/WBC/Lymph/Coag/Blood Banking (taken all together).

what does rbc/wbc mean? Does that include anemias, lymphomas and leukemias? If you mean what is the % of the test that is found under what first aid calls hem/onc, it's probably ~7-9% or so. It's probably not emphasized any more or less than any non-cardiovascular organ system.

I'm not sure what you want us to tell you....it's an organ system and it's covered. Blowing off hem/onc in it's entirety would be about the same as blowing off GI or whatever in it's entirety.

 

[SkylineMD]

well for a review course even if it was taught improperly, one would think that it would be a big part of the exam. cardio only has 4 lectures, resp with 3, etc but nothing is as big as the hematology lectures. I was just curious regarding this topic since a 3rd year student who had taken the exam had mentioned anemias being very heavy on the exam but i have yet to run across many posts suggesting so. many people talk about cardio, renal, etc being important but very rare instances of heme

not to mention out of the 600 pages of his RR book, close to 100 are dedicated to those topics.

 

[mountainman123]

I agree with the other posters on here as to how hard it is hit. I think that Goljan spends so much time on it because it is a huge subject and can be confusing. He spends one whole lecture just distinguishing the different anemias, another on iron deficiency, etc... It is kind of hard to teach all of the different leukemias, anemias, lymphomas, thalasemias, etc.. in the same amount of time that it takes to talk about right and left heart failure and MI's that most people know something about already. It is just a bigger topic and thus takes more time- not more important.... I hope that made sense.

 

[anesthesiarocks]

yeah...it's just harder to explain and thats why it probably takes a little longer.

It's a big topic though....if Goljan spends 1/6 of the path lecture time talking about it, I'd say that's somewhat of an overrepresentation but not too much. I'd say hem/onc is maybe 1/8 of the path, pathophys, and physio querstions on the test. probably about a similar number to renal, and a little less than cards of neuro.

 

[SkylineMD]

thanks .... makes sense now -

harder to cover so more time spent but equal emphasis

 

[winsicle]

yeah...it's just harder to explain and thats why it probably takes a little longer.

It's a big topic though....if Goljan spends 1/6 of the path lecture time talking about it, I'd say that's somewhat of an overrepresentation but not too much. I'd say hem/onc is maybe 1/8 of the path, pathophys, and physio querstions on the test. probably about a similar number to renal, and a little less than cards of neuro.

you have'nt taken Step 1, correct? How do you come up w/ these numbers, pure speculation?



BTW- What i was referring to in my previous post is the Chapters in RR dedicated to Hematology: RBC Disorders/WBC Disorders/Lymph/Hemostasis/Transfusion (as previously stated about 1/6 of the book)

 

[nockamura]

1 in 8 questions seems too high to me.

 

[anesthesiarocks]

I dont think 1/8 of the path-pharm-pathophys-phys angle is that high. That's probably about 1/14 or so of the total questions on the test.

1/14 of 350 is 25 questions total. 25 total questions total seems reasonable. That's only ~4 questions total on anemias including sickle cell, the thalaseemias, etc, ~2 questions on lymphomas, ~2 questions on leukemias, ~3 questions on coagulation phys and coagulation disorders, ~2 questions on anti-cancer drugs, ~2 questions on antiplatelet drugs/warfarin and heparin/thrombolytic agents and all other hemonc pharm, ~2 questions on leukemias, a question or two on general neoplasia principles. Thats getting at 20 questions right there, and in some cases the estimate is low.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I agree; perhaps 1/8 - 1/10 of path/phys/pathophys. Perhaps a slightly lower fraction of pharm but a few questions can really alter that fraction.

Bottom line, it's worth studying. What I like about this subject is that there are lots of distinct entities, and each only has a few testable points.

 

[monalisa83]

i went over goljans audio for hematology and I think its pretty importnat to understand for your own clinical experience, i thought it was very helpful to me. I know its like 8 hours of audio, but you can fast forward to parts that you dont understand as well. But if you have a strong understanding of RDW, ret count, and all the different anemias then it may not be necessary for you. Just my 2 cents. Good luck,

 

[anesthesiarocks]

I agree; perhaps 1/8 - 1/10 of path/phys/pathophys. Perhaps a slightly lower fraction of pharm but a few questions can really alter that fraction.

Bottom line, it's worth studying. What I like about this subject is that there are lots of distinct entities, and each only has a few testable points.

there are def. fewer possible "max" questions in hemonc, but there is a higher floor as well. It's entirely possible that someone could get virtually no pharm questions from repro, endo, GI,etc. But you pretty much know you're going to get 1+ questions on some anti-neoplastic drug(either requiring you to know cell cycle/side effects) and a question on warfarin, heparin, or a thrombolytic.