Pharm for USMLE

[giznut12]

What is the best source for pharm for the USMLE or COMLEX? I have pharm recall. Is that sufficient or is it overkill?

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[Kalel]

pharm recall and all pharm specific books are overkill for the usmle. You may find it useful for your class though. Stick with first aid for pharm.

 

[Vincristine]

I completely agree with Kalel.

 

[giznut12]

What books to you recommend other than First Aid of course? I was thinking BRS Path and Physio and maybe a micro book.

 

[Kalel]

Originally posted by giznut12
What books to you recommend other than First Aid of course? I was thinking BRS Path and Physio and maybe a micro book.

Don't know if this was directed at me or not, but I made book recc's in the FAQ thread.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108020

 

[Blade28]

I used Lippincott's. Might have been a little excessive, but I was using it through the first two years of med school, so it was already highlighted and annotated.

 

[Molly Maquire]

In my opinion, Pharm was much more difficult on COMLEX than on USMLE. You really had to have some in depth knowledge of side affects, interactions, etc. Also, Pharm as a subject receives much more emphasis on COMLEX than on USMLE.

To do really well on COMLEX pharm, you should use a source like Lippencott or something similarly detailed. For USMLE, First Aid is fine--or to maximize your score, you could use something like the Kaplan pharm book, which isn't too bad.

For Comlex, you really need to know the psyc. drugs well (neuroleptics, benzos, SSRIs). The USMLE put more emphasis on autonomic drugs (epi, norepi, atropine, etc).

 

[giznut12]

Thanks Molly. What other books do you recommend using?

 

[DrMom]

Originally posted by Molly Maquire

For Comlex, you really need to know the psyc. drugs well (neuroleptics, benzos, SSRIs). The USMLE put more emphasis on autonomic drugs (epi, norepi, atropine, etc).

I heard that last year's COMLEX was really big on the autonomics in addition to the psych drugs. I've also been warned about knowing the details of the drugs.

 

[DireWolf]

I've also been told about the emphasis on autonomic and psych drugs for COMLEX.

Does anyone know if the antimicrobial/chemotherapy drugs are emphasized on either the USMLE or COMLEX? It seems First Aid devotes a lot of time to them.

 

[souljah1]

Trevor (of Katzung and Trevor's Pharmacology) gave our micro pharm review and told us that antimicrobials are very high yield for step1. Levinson told us that as well. I have no idea about the complex, but I trust him when he tells us to know mechanism, tox, and USE of the antimicrobials with emphasis on bacteria>fungi>virus>parasites.

Autonomics are also supposedly heavily tested on b/c they require very good understanding of physiology and, in many cases, cell biology.

 

[Molly Maquire]

Yeah, micro pharm is pretty high yield for both COMLEX and USMLE. For COMLEX, you had to know stuff like which ones turned on the p450 system, etc.

For the chemotherapy drugs, most of the questions seemed to focus on the side effects (which one causes pulmonary fibrosis, which one causes cardiomyopathy, which one causes hemorragic cystitis, etc).

While we are on the subject of Microbiology, this is another area of difference between the two exams. Micro is huge on COMLEX, not too much on USMLE. Micro Made Ridiculously Simple is awesome for both, but probably overkill for USMLE. What makes it great is that, in addition to its memorable memonics and cartoons, there are tables at the end of each chapter you can really go through quickly that summarize all the important info.

I was really surprised to see a number of COMLEX questions dealing with those bizarre parasites, especially after our Kaplan instructor told us not to worry about them. These questions invariably began with the phrase "A traveler returns from West Africa..." Be warned--don't blow these off.

 

[DireWolf]

Originally posted by Molly Maquire
I was really surprised to see a number of COMLEX questions dealing with those bizarre parasites, especially after our Kaplan instructor told us not to worry about them. These questions invariably began with the phrase "A traveler returns from West Africa..." Be warned--don't blow these off.

Are you freakin kidding me? I was told not to bother with parasites for USMLE because you might only get 1 or 2 questions on it tops. Do parasites make up a significant portion of COMLEX or just a couple questions? I would like to spend my time on the most high-yield topics.

 

[Molly Maquire]

I would'nt call it a "significant portion," but there were enough to be surprising. I remember a question on the organisim that causes river blindness, and a question on babesia (maltease cross). I would'nt make these bugs a focus of your studying, just don't totally blow them off.

 

[docfoofoo]

Molly did they ask you for treatment for river blindness (ivermectin) and Babesiosis ( i think its quinine) or did they ask you what organism?

 

[vitaminj]

I thought that First Aid had a pretty good pharm section. I did however supplement it with High Yield Pharmacology and thought the combinations was very good. High Yield is very readable, see if you can borrow it from someone, might not be worth the purchase price.