If You've Taken the SURGERY SHELF

[liquid magma]

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Hey everyone,

I am taking the Surgery Shelf in two and a half weeks and would like to hear people's advice about what to study. So far, I've been using NMS, Recall, and Pre-test. A few of my friends say that the test is mostly"medicine" topics. Therefore, I probably won't spend much, if any, time looking at the sections on surgical subspecialties.

For those who have taken the shelf, let me know what you think about my study plan.

Topics I plan to study:
Electrolyte and fluid management
Trauma/Burn
Surgical GI (I am spending about 1/2 my time on this topic)
Surgical Breast
Surgical Endocrine/Thyroid
Pre/Post-op complications

Topics I will probably skip:
Surgical Anatomy
Surgical Techniques
Urology
Ortho
ENT
Neurosurg
Vascular

 

[PimplePopperMD]

I would spend some time on the surgical subspecialties. They popped up quite a bit on my shelf, much to my surprise. (2 y ago).

You are correct to dump the other stuff.

Spend some good time on your GI, like you say. Ulcer surgical management, whipple, etc etc...

Trauma and burn management, along with ranson criteria, are relatively high yield as well..

good luck

 

[Asher]

I focused on studying from Recall and was pleased with the results -- I didn't ace the test by any means but did get a respectable score for a future nonsurgeon. Many of the questions are of the "what do you do first" variety so I would focus on the work-up for common surgical conditions.

 

[Crypt Abscess]

I just used Recall for rounds and focused on PreTest and the Appleton& Lange question book for the exam. Ill let you know how I did either this week or next week.

Star

 

[Starflyr]

OH good lord! The above post was from me, not Crypt. I guess SOMEBODY didnt log out of the computer s/he was using at school. Sorry for the confusion!

Star

 

[doc05]

pretest and A&L are reasonably good sources. beware that A&L does have a number of typos in it.

I wouldn't recommend Recall for the exam because you need to understand the material, since most are "thinking" type questions.

Unfortunately, I had a ton of subspecialty questions: probably about 30-40% of my exam. Don't forget about ortho, neurosurgery, GU. ENT, gyn, and anesthesia were also tested, though somewhat less so.

I don't recall a single question on surgical technique.

Electrolyte disturbances are good to know.

 

[ktat72]

did anyone here use "first aid for the surgery rotation" book for the exam - the book has a lot of medicine and procedure stuff in it