Overlapping Books

[makesomerheum]

Hi, I am about to start my first rotation in Jan in medicine (my school is on a diff system w/ 1.5 yrs for basic sciences). I have had many books recommended and have read a few of the threads with debates on best books. My dilemma is picking a few books that do not overlap each other much in content or purpose (q? books, review books, etc). I am trying to pick a good combo of books from these that have been recommended including MKSAP2, Case Files for Medicine, NMS, Blueprints, Pocket Medicine, St. Francis Guide to IM, Step-Up and FIRST AID for Medicine. I do not know how to mix and match to get the most out of my time and money. I would prefer to only pick 2-4 since I will be using uptodate and Harrison's for more in-depth on patients. Here was my initial inclination, MKSAP2, Pocket Medicine, and St. Francis (or maybe Step-Up). Thanks for any help.

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[Samoa]

I've looked at/used most of those books, and they all have different stregngths and weaknesses. they fall into 3 general categories:

1) question books--MKSAP2 is really the way to go, plus it's the only one you've listed
2) pocket books--here you have Pocket Medicine vs. St. Francis; I preferred Pocket Medicine, but one girl on my team used St. Francis. We both did fine. The key is to study it and use it.
3) comprehensive outlines--NMS vs. Step-Up vs. First Aid; again, I used NMS, but other people used First Aid and were fine. First Aid does a slightly better job of honing in on the major bullet points for each topic, but NMS provides wider coverage. I did medicine first, and I was just so sick of FA at that point from step 1 studying, that I couldn't stand to look at its kind of format again. Nobody I know used Step Up, so I can't comment on that.

You can probably skip having a comprehensive outline if you have easy access to UpToDate. It's a good way to know what you haven't covered well for the shelf, but then so is Pocket Medicine.

I also used Case Files for medicine. I liked that it was written in prose, which almost nothing else is, and it's targeted toward 3rd years encountering medicine for the first time. So they explain things that other sources assume you know already, or just gloss over.

If I had it to do over, and wanted to save money without performing any worse, I would use MKSAP2, Pocket Medicine, Case Files and UpToDate.

 

[Kate007]

If you want to buy 4 books, I would recommend the following:

MKSAP for questions. You really can't beat it.

Pocket medicine to carry around with you. It's very concise but doesn't cover a bunch of stuff. It's good to have with you for quick review or during down times.

Step up medicine is best one for review and study. It's much much better than NMS and FA. Trust me on this. A lot of people in my class have used it and prefer it to the above. If you feel the need to buy another book, maybe Blueprints is the one to get. But I think that Step up is more comprehensive, easier to read and covers more high-yield topics.