I've gotten to enjoy the wonders of 4th year and have had the last 3 months off, but am about to start my intern year. I was planning on buying a few books before I started and was looking for suggestions.
1. Textbook - one that is actually readable cover-to-cover and a little less boring and dry that most that are published.
Honestly, I think textbooks for primary care specialties are an anachronism. I love my subspecialty texts, but I am in a field in which a lot of principles move at a fairly glacial pace (a single ventricle pathway is a single ventricle pathway, regardless of Sano vs. MBTS. Adaptations and modifications of the pathway are still based on a lot of the same principles that have been around a long time) and there is a lot of esoterica for which it is nice to have a go-to ref or three. But there are so many moving targets in primary care peds, that I don't think the giant texts are all that helpful. I went through residency and barely ever looked at Nelson's or Oski's or Rudolph's and did very well with other, more contemporary, and, IMHO, better reading material. UpToDate and emedicine (my favorite of the two as it's kept more true to its quick-reference heritage) are great as long as you accept the bias of the autohors and take everything with a grain of salt. The Peds In Review articles are often quite good and if you can get them online, you can search for many subjects. One of my all time favorites is the Clinics of North America. I would go to the website, find a title I'd want to read, and pull it up from mdconsult. Obviously Pediatric Clinics and Adolescent medicine clinics, but look around at other fields that may touch on peds (surgery, oto, etc). I once found a fantastic overview of immunodeficiencies in kids in the Oto Clinics articles. Often these articles are written by top specialists in top centers and, if written recently, reflect very current information that will often outstrip what is in the Big Texts. I realize I will be accused of having a bias, but if you want to read a (readable) textbook cover-to-cover before residency, I would recommend Park's Pediatric Cardiology For Practitioners. This isn't because I think everyone should want to be a cardiologist (although they probably should😉) but cards entails what is often one of the most scary patient populations in the field (along with sick neonates) and almost everyone learns very little about this in medical school. It's a worthwhile read even just for its review of peds ekg reading, but has a great deal of info in a very digestible format. Even if you do residency in a non-surgical center, you will take care of a neonate with undiagnosed CHD, neonatal and pediatric arrhythmias, repaired and palliated complex CHD, myocarditis, will order and be expected to read an EKG, and will, most definitely, be expected to determine if a murmur is benign or pathological, be it in the nursery, NICU, ward, PICU, or clinic. I don't know of a book that is geared to the primary care pediatrician and FP about a peds sub-specialty (that touches often on general peds) written as well and as concisely.
One handbook you could go through easily which will also deal with an intimidating population is the Oakland Handbook of Peds Heme/Onc. Those recommendations aside, I think just reading some contemporary articles on commonly seen disease entities would be helpful. But realize, that a lot of this stuff gets reinforced best during residency when you see something and then read about it.
2. On the wards manual - likely pocket peds since Harriet Lane is huge and poorly organized.
And just about everywhere will have a copy and there's a good chance you'll get a copy from your residency. It doesn't necessarily function that well as an in-pocket manual (for me at least), but the Philadelphia Guide to Inpatient Peds can be a pretty good quick review. It's kind of a good book to leave on the back of your toilet. The Oakland Guide as I mentioned above.
3. A good pediatric H & P guide - we learn the basics of the H & P for adult, but there is a subtle nuance to the peds history especially and any guide to tricks with the peds physical would be greatly appreciated.
A book is probably overkill. You will pick it up. The big thing is to forget about the head-->toe exam of the adult for smaller kids. You go with the least intimidating first and, if they are quiet, that which the kiddo needs to be quiet for first. Ears are almost always last. Doing a thorough neuro exam throughout the age spectrum is an essential skill (and this includes fundoscopic exam for which you should be willing to dilate if you really need to look). Compliant school age to teen are essentially the same as an adult, and you should be able to master a 5 minute thorough neuro exam in med school. Find an article on the neuro exam in younger children and read it. If you were to buy any book for residency or practice (though probably not something readable beforehand) I'd recommend a musculoskeletal medicine; Essentials of Musculoskeletal Care http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1TGFH3YQYJ1FENG6WPFY being one of the most commonly used.
4. Any other helpful resources (Other than Zitelli's, Nelson's, Redbook, Uptodate, etc.
The stuff I mentioned above. But I did remember as I was writing: one book that almost approximates Park's book for another specialty is Current Management in Child Neurology By Bernard L. Maria. http://books.google.com/books?id=lx...&resnum=4&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false The major difference is that it probably exceeds the length limit to be readable before residency. But everything I've ever read in this book was great. You might consider reading some of the seizure chapters, the febrile seizure chapter, and the chapters on headache. I'll bet even Stitch has read at least one chapter out of this book.
I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions!
Thanks
