Need Textbook Advice

[Doctor4Life1769]

So, I will be a 2nd year at a new medical school (LMU-DCOM) and we have no upperclassmen to ask book-related Qs.

We are starting Heme/Onc and Cardio as our 1st 2 systems in the Fall.

For Heme/Onc, the "required" book is Essential Haemotology.
For Cardio, we have Dubin and Clinical Electrocardiography, A Simplified Approach (7th Ed) by A. L. Goldberger both for EKG; Physiology of the Heart (4th Ed) by A. Katz

We also have Felson's Principles of Chest Roentgenology by L. R. Goodman as a required text.

My question, to any of you upperclassmen at any school, how useful were the above texts towards learning the material? Is it necessary to purchase or can using class notes and board review books good enough? Thanks for any and all advice!

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[ShyRem]

I had lots of previous experience with EKGs, so I didn't use a book. Lots of folks swore by Dubin.

Didn't use the heme book.
Didn't use any cardio book.

I think it depends on how good or bad your professors are. Robbins was a good resource. Goljan path was an excellent resource, and I recommend it highly (I actually used that book for most of my second year systems courses).

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

I had lots of previous experience with EKGs, so I didn't use a book. Lots of folks swore by Dubin.

Didn't use the heme book.
Didn't use any cardio book.

I think it depends on how good or bad your professors are. Robbins was a good resource. Goljan path was an excellent resource, and I recommend it highly (I actually used that book for most of my second year systems courses).

Thanks for the advice above. I do have Goljan Path so I will use a lot of that since you felt it was a great resource. If any others can chime in about the original post/question then that would be great as well!

I also came across this book: "The Only Ekg Book You'll Ever Need" by Malcom Thaler. Have you or anyone else heard about this book? I read reviews on Amazon and for the most part they appear to be great reviews (most claiming this to be better than Dubin). Any advice pertaining to this book from fellow SDNers? Thanks!

 

[ShyRem]

Thaler is lesser known than Dubin, although I do know folks who refused by buy Dubin's book because of his criminal/legal issues (do a search). Those that read Thaler said that was good as well. Again, never read either one of them. But the key to EKGs is practice, practice, practice. And more practice. Don't get obsessed with every little FLB you see. (FLB = funny little beat)

Oh, and get First Aid if you don't already have it. Annotate as you go along. It has a reasonable section on Heme/onc that covers the basics.

 

[DragonWell]

Thanks for the advice above. I do have Goljan Path so I will use a lot of that since you felt it was a great resource. If any others can chime in about the original post/question then that would be great as well!

I also came across this book: "The Only Ekg Book You'll Ever Need" by Malcom Thaler. Have you or anyone else heard about this book? I read reviews on Amazon and for the most part they appear to be great reviews (most claiming this to be better than Dubin). Any advice pertaining to this book from fellow SDNers? Thanks!

Wow, I 'm surprised that all the books you mentioned above are required, they seem like they should be more like supplements to the basic phys and path books...a 640 page textbook just on cardiac phys...

I read Dubin, but Thaler is the book I ended up really using. I'm not sure the title is completely accurate, but it certainly was the only EKG book I needed for 2nd year at least. It does a good job of distilling down and explaining the basics. The online questions were also useful for extra practice.

I would also highly recommend Lily's for both EKG and all of cardiac phys and path. This is not only the best book on cardiac I've encountered, but also just plain one of the best medical books I've read on any subject.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

Awesome, thanks for recommending Lily -- I read the reviews and they've been nothing short of incredible, so I will likely use that in combination with Thaler. I'm not a huge textbook person, so thanks for that.

Also, any other suggestions for top concise books for renal, GI, reproductive, etc?

These are the books I currently own (Pathophys related):

First Aid 2007, RR Path 2nd Ed and BRS Path (both E-copies from friends at other med schools), Goljan Path STARS and its Review counterpart; along with BRS Physio.

Thanks again!

 

[BMW19]

D4Life,

I was in a similar position at a new school 3 yrs ago so I know what it is like. In my humble opinion:

Goljan is awesome for everything. Start marking in the margins of his path book and First aid and you will be very happy come board review time in one year.

guyton is the absolute must for any phys but it of course it is very dense. I rec. BRS phys which will get you thru any phys. test in any subject renal, cardio or pulm. Go to Guyton online or in you library to clarify things if necessary.

If you want a great book take a look at Clinical Cardiology Made Ridiculously simple. It is in the same series as Clinical Micro MRS (which is another must by the way). Remember Comlex 1 is Micro, Pharm and OMM heavy heavy....on those 3 topics. Get a good pharm review book I recommend USMLE road map to Pharmacology (concise yet complete).

If you really want to maximize your time, money and effort in my opinion 700 page textbooks are impossible to get thru. Use review books and go to the library texts if you have to to clarify concepts. If your school is like mine since it is so new I am sure you have a ton of texts online at your disposal.
I can't stress enough that if I had started marking in my First Aid, Step up to USMLE 1 and Goljan Path all thru 2 year I would have had a 100 points higher on COMLEX.

Hope that helps,

BMW-

Awesome, thanks for recommending Lily -- I read the reviews and they've been nothing short of incredible, so I will likely use that in combination with Thaler. I'm not a huge textbook person, so thanks for that.

Also, any other suggestions for top concise books for renal, GI, reproductive, etc?

These are the books I currently own (Pathophys related):

First Aid 2007, RR Path 2nd Ed and BRS Path (both E-copies from friends at other med schools), Goljan Path STARS and its Review counterpart; along with BRS Physio.

Thanks again!

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

Thanks guys/gals for all the help!

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

I just came from India and have no clue where to find the study material for the the preparation of Part 1 nbde. Can any one please guide me as to where to get the material and what to expect? I would appreciate any input. thanks.

Wrong forum, go to Dental forum.

 

[DragonWell]

Awesome, thanks for recommending Lily -- I read the reviews and they've been nothing short of incredible, so I will likely use that in combination with Thaler. I'm not a huge textbook person, so thanks for that.

Also, any other suggestions for top concise books for renal, GI, reproductive, etc?

These are the books I currently own (Pathophys related):

First Aid 2007, RR Path 2nd Ed and BRS Path (both E-copies from friends at other med schools), Goljan Path STARS and its Review counterpart; along with BRS Physio.

Thanks again!

Vander's is good for renal - excellent diagrams and a pretty short read.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

Vander's is good for renal - excellent diagrams and a pretty short read.

Awesome, thank you!

When I went to that link, I also came across this for pulmonary:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0781767016/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Opinions of this book?

 

[ChiDO]

As a first year student starting in august, would any of you recommend picking up any of the "review" books before the start of school, so that I can have them when I begin? Netter/Rohen? First Aid? Savarse(OMM)?

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

As a first year student starting in august, would any of you recommend picking up any of the "review" books before the start of school, so that I can have them when I begin? Netter/Rohen? First Aid? Savarse(OMM)?

Netter's was given through SOMA membership

Definitely get 1st Aid

Sevarese: depends, up to you -- I didn't and maybe I should have. It was pretty much split: some bought it and others didn't. I guess it couldn't hurt on hindsight to have it.

 

[Old_Mil]

Dubin...Robbins...Goljan...

An MVP list of books you have there.

 

[gdk]

1st year: netter and rohan were good for me. brs physiology was popular.

2nd year: that's when i would get FA for usmle step 1. mark the margins with class notes as you go. there won't be much from 1st year except biochem and very basic gross anatomy and cell bio so i would just wait for the newer version of FA and get it for ms2. i used goljan rapid review pathology instead of the "required" path book and that helped a lot. also, the pharm in FA is really all you need to know for step 1.

also, if you make any study sheets of "must know" stuff for the tests in ms1, graphs or diagrams.... keep them for step1 study. i used mine a lot b/c they were just the very basics to remember and written in a way that i could remember better

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

1st year: netter and rohan were good for me. brs physiology was popular.

2nd year: that's when i would get FA for usmle step 1. mark the margins with class notes as you go. there won't be much from 1st year except biochem and very basic gross anatomy and cell bio so i would just wait for the newer version of FA and get it for ms2. i used goljan rapid review pathology instead of the "required" path book and that helped a lot. also, the pharm in FA is really all you need to know for step 1.

also, if you make any study sheets of "must know" stuff for the tests in ms1, graphs or diagrams.... keep them for step1 study. i used mine a lot b/c they were just the very basics to remember and written in a way that i could remember better

To what extent should we mark on the margins of FA? I'm clueless and a poor annotater.

 

[GregsAnatomy]

So, I will be a 2nd year at a new medical school (LMU-DCOM) and we have no upperclassmen to ask book-related Qs.

We are starting Heme/Onc and Cardio as our 1st 2 systems in the Fall.

For Heme/Onc, the "required" book is Essential Haemotology.
For Cardio, we have Dubin and Clinical Electrocardiography, A Simplified Approach (7th Ed) by A. L. Goldberger both for EKG; Physiology of the Heart (4th Ed) by A. Katz

We also have Felson's Principles of Chest Roentgenology by L. R. Goodman as a required text.

My question, to any of you upperclassmen at any school, how useful were the above texts towards learning the material? Is it necessary to purchase or can using class notes and board review books good enough? Thanks for any and all advice!

Definitely didn't need a book for heme/onc. As others have noted First Aid is a great review source for your exams.

Dubin is a great place to start, especially if you knew absolutely nothing about EKG's like I did. Couldn't agree more about Clinical Cardiology Made Ridiculously Simple as someone else mentioned. Chizner is actually a faculty member at NSU-COM and one really amazing guy.