M3 pre-read?

[gstrub]

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I am about to start M3 after being out of the loop for 4 years (doing a PhD). Any must read books out there that would actually help when back at the hospital? A friend of mine suggested Boards and Wards, but I figured I'd ask all you experts who have been there, done that.
Thanks.
-G

 

[smq123]

I am about to start M3 after being out of the loop for 4 years (doing a PhD). Any must read books out there that would actually help when back at the hospital? A friend of mine suggested Boards and Wards, but I figured I'd ask all you experts who have been there, done that.
Thanks.
-G

Some people like First Aid for the wards. Silly as it sounds, just looking through Maxwell's is good - it took me a day or two to familiarize myself with some of the notation used in everyday progress notes.

What rotation are you starting off on?

 

[gstrub]

Ob.

 

[smq123]

Ob.

Oh.

OB/gyn is kind of a tough one to start on, because it's a lot of stuff that you never learned in med school. So you're kind of starting from scratch.

Just remember that all progress notes should be short - it's a surgery-ish specialty (I'll leave it at that to ward off any arguments about whether or not GYN should be considered surgery 😉), so you don't have to bother listing every medication the patient has been on for the past 2 years or so.

Print out this list and carry it with you. OB/gyn is notorious for having the most abbreviations of all the specialties, and if you don't know what those abbreviations mean you will be hopelessly lost.

(The list in the link is very good, but they left off "FOB = Father of the baby" and "AROM = artificial rupture of membranes.")

And have a tough skin. A lot of OB/gyns are very nice, but some aren't, so....just in case you get stuck with a bad one.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Oh.

OB/gyn is kind of a tough one to start on, because it's a lot of stuff that you never learned in med school. So you're kind of starting from scratch.

I think OB/Gyn would be a good start for an MD/PHD...like you said, it's stuff that you don't really learn in the first two years, so everyone is clueless - levels out the playing field for the MD/PHD student who is kind of rusty.

 

[QofQuimica]

I am about to start M3 after being out of the loop for 4 years (doing a PhD). Any must read books out there that would actually help when back at the hospital? A friend of mine suggested Boards and Wards, but I figured I'd ask all you experts who have been there, done that.
Thanks.
-G

Step Up to Medicine is awesome if you don't mind outline format. The sections for each topic are short (10 pages at most, usually much less) and quick to read. The book was even helpful on surgery and OB/gyn sometimes, because guess what, people going for surgery still have medical problems. I would for sure read the sections on common diseases like diabetes and hypertension (very common in pregnant women as well as the general population) before you start rotations. Oh, one more thing: if you do decide to get Step Up, there are several typos. We have a thread in this forum with errata that you should use to make corrections. You should be able to find it if you search.

OB/gyn is notorious for having the most abbreviations of all the specialties, and if you don't know what those abbreviations mean you will be hopelessly lost.

Agree. I can't stand that. It's even worse than taking molecular bio where every single chapter is a long string of acronyms that were never defined.

And have a tough skin. A lot of OB/gyns are very nice, but some aren't, so....just in case you get stuck with a bad one.

OP, never tell an OB/gyn resident or attending *anything* you don't want the entire department to talk about behind your back. I don't think I had ever interacted with so many catty, gossipy women in my entire life before OB/gyn. 👎

IMO, your best bet is to be pleasant, but mostly keep your mouth shut unless spoken to. Oh, and read up on OB/gyn topics, because surgeons (and OB/gyns) like to pimp.

Best of luck. 🙂

 

[RxnMan]

I am about to start M3 after being out of the loop for 4 years (doing a PhD). Any must read books out there that would actually help when back at the hospital? A friend of mine suggested Boards and Wards, but I figured I'd ask all you experts who have been there, done that.
Thanks.
-G

I would actually get a good list of standard items that should be included in a PE and practice that. Getting a handle on a good PE and doing one fast is pretty useful, regardless of the rotation.