Noobie to the wards

[vicinihil]

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Hi guys,

My rotations beginning at the end of April and I have about two weeks off between my Step 1's and the wards. I was wondering if you guys had any advice as to what books I should get to prep myself for the wards portion of medical school. I'm not asking review books per say but more like books that will mentally prepare me for what to expect (a little light reading) or if you guys have great review books to suggest, I'd love to hear about those as well. Again I'm a noob to this phase so anything would be much appreciated.

I know Step Up to Medicine and First Aid for Step 2 are absolute essentials. Anything else you guys suggest? I start with Surgery.

 

[MCYan]

http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/9781882742127/

 

[juiceman311]

Damn dude, in your 2 weeks after Step 1 freakin DO NOT READ ANYTHING. Avoid learning anything in those 2 weeks. Are you kidding man? You will have all of your third year to figure it out. Most residents and attendings will cut you HUGE slack on your first 2ish rotations as they know you have zero clinical experience. You will get a feel for it as you go. Nothing you read will prepare you. It's not even a big deal. You will spend the first week of every rotation being utterly confused and lost as you try to figure the team's system out, where forms are, what's expected of you, etc. After that you will be fine.

 

[Jolie South]

As someone that just started clinics a few months ago, there's nothing you can do to prepare. Just show up and try not to stress. Take things one day at a time and read up on patients as you see them.

 

[Depakote]

read or do something fun. You'll need a mental break before surgery.

 

[ZagDoc]

You'll find when it comes to "medical knowledge" you'll actually be superior in some ways to your intern when you start, just by being so close to taking Step 1. As such, looking at any review book at this stage for you would be pretty worthless. The review books such as Step Up to Medicine are for later down the road when you've forgotten everything from Step 1, which some "management" stuff sprinkled in.

The thing that is "difficult" about the beginning of third year is making the transition from full-time student to clinical clerk. And believe me when I tell you there is nothing you can read that can adequately prepare you for that. It's something you have to do and observe to learn, day after day. Everyone knows it, and third years are given a huge amount of slack in the beginning the year because everyone KNOWS you aren't supposed to be good at that aspect yet.

So yeah, echo the sentiments above. The best thing you can do to do well in third year is to get rested up so you're at your best starting third year. The year is a marathon and wears on you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Marathon runners don't train hard the week before a race, and I'd take that analogy to heart.

As for books, I really liked Lawrence for general surg to get the concepts behind things. Surgical Recall is the popular "on the wards" book for the surgery rotation here, and is good to peruse before heading to scrub into a case. I got both and am glad I did.

 

[MattD]

Yeah, there's not much you can do to 'prepare for the experience' of being a clerk. At some point in years 1-2 you should have learned how to take a history and physical and to write a SOAP note. If you're rusty on that, you could quickly review it, but regardless you're gonna be really bad at it at first just because you haven't done it 500 times yet. Not a big deal, and expectations are low your first rotation.

As someone mentioned before, EVERY rotation is going to start off with a period of not knowing what's going on, because you're going to be transitioning to a whole new specialty and way of working. This comes right about the point you start feeling comfortable with your previous rotation, so you never get fully comfortable for the entire year 🙂 That's good though, if you're comfortable you're not learning. The reason the 3rd years you see right now don't look completely confused and stressed isn't because they've got everything down pat, it's just because they've become accustomed to being off-balance 🙂

Don't sweat it too much, pretty much everyone makes the transition just fine, and 3rd year is tons of fun. I agree with the poster who said not to attempt to study during your 2 weeks off, 3rd year will likely be the busiest year of your life (thus far), so enjoy the break 🙂

 

[vicinihil]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I think what I meant by reading...isn't prep books or text books, what I meant was more like books that tell me what to expect (as the first responder alluded to) and entertaining stories of people who have been there to get me hyped up about it.

I'll be back for review book suggestions when it actually hits the fan 😛

 

[MattD]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I think what I meant by reading...isn't prep books or text books, what I meant was more like books that tell me what to expect (as the first responder alluded to) and entertaining stories of people who have been there to get me hyped up about it.

I'll be back for review book suggestions when it actually hits the fan 😛

Hmm, I'm not aware of any books that really focus on the MS-3/4 experience. It actually would probably be a good read, maybe you should take notes, write a diary, and when you finish up write that book yourself! I bet it would be interesting.

A book a lot of people mention that is kinda along the lines you're looking for, but for interns, is "The Intern Blues", which follows a couple of pediatric interns through that first year. A lot of people like it, personally I felt like it was overly whiney (ESPECIALLY one of the interns...) but then again I haven't done internship yet and may find that I'm just as whiney 🙂 Hot Lights, Cold Steel is a book written about a guy's ortho residency, it's quick and entertaining, not too heavy on the actual day to day life though. House of God is a classic, just understand that it's satire, and you may not actually "get it" until later in the year or next year. I read it as a pre-med, thought I got it, now realize I get it differently, and will probably get it in a completely different way 5 years from now 🙂

anyways, good luck on the wards!! 🙂