Reading during residency

[doctortobe2012]

Hello, I am currently a PGY2 general surgery resident. My program unfortunately has not given us much guidance in terms of what we should be reading throughout, and as my ABSITE scores have been lackluster these first two years, I am trying to revamp my study habits and the resources I have been using. As I begin my PGY 3 year, what resources have you found most useful to
1) develop a solid general surgery fund of knowledge
2) assist in learning steps/relevant anatomy for the OR
3) prepare for ABSITE and
4) prepare for boards ?

Thank you for your time.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Have you read through the numerous threads about the ABSITE and boards?

 

[Dr.LeoSpaceman]

1) develop a solid general surgery fund of knowledge

• ACS Surgery
• Sabiston
• Cameron

2) assist in learning steps/relevant anatomy for the OR (Operative Anatomy

• Scott-Conner Operative Anatomy
• Mastery of Surgery

3) prepare for ABSITE

• Cameron
• Fiser Review

I can tell you I read all of ACS Surgery and Cameron within my first two years. Used Sabiston as needed for some things. In my third year, I re-read Cameron and covered Mastery of Surgery, with Operative Anatomy as needed for cases. Fiser in the month or two before ABSITE, plus questions from Rush Review.

I'm sure you'll get a number of opinions. And some of the books are essentially interchangeable. The one that I think you'd find on everyone's list is Cameron.

 

[illixir]

1) develop a solid general surgery fund of knowledge

• ACS Surgery
• Sabiston
• Cameron

2) assist in learning steps/relevant anatomy for the OR (Operative Anatomy

• Scott-Conner Operative Anatomy
• Mastery of Surgery

3) prepare for ABSITE

• Cameron
• Fiser Review

I can tell you I read all of ACS Surgery and Cameron within my first two years. Used Sabiston as needed for some things. In my third year, I re-read Cameron and covered Mastery of Surgery, with Operative Anatomy as needed for cases. Fiser in the month or two before ABSITE, plus questions from Rush Review.

I'm sure you'll get a number of opinions. And some of the books are essentially interchangeable. The one that I think you'd find on everyone's list is Cameron.

Great post, what I would like to know is how you in reality go about reading a book cover to cover, especially one like cameron twice in a few years while reading other texts. Do you set aside an hour each night to read or do you set about reading x number of pages a night, or do you go by your rotations and have days to go over miscellaneous or what is your strategy. You have gone through more material than I would have dreamt about doing in that short of a time so your boring information is helpful to me.

 

[Dr.LeoSpaceman]

Great post, what I would like to know is how you in reality go about reading a book cover to cover, especially one like cameron twice in a few years while reading other texts. Do you set aside an hour each night to read or do you set about reading x number of pages a night, or do you go by your rotations and have days to go over miscellaneous or what is your strategy. You have gone through more material than I would have dreamt about doing in that short of a time so your boring information is helpful to me.

It seems daunting until you actually start doing it. I basically made a reading plan for each book, with the goal of covering relevant chapters while I was on a specific rotation. I then set aside 30-60 minutes to read each day, with more on days off/weekends. If you have it planned out right, the progress you make in the book doubles as the reading you should be doing for upcoming cases. I also have the Kindle version of Cameron, which allows me to read on downtime in the hospital.

But if you think about is, Cameron has about 1500 pages/250 chapters. If you read at least a chapter/day (a very achievable goal), you can read it in under a year. Plus, the second time through it went much more quickly, as I didn't necessarily cover everything. Some of the lower-yield chapters I'd skim, knowing that I had read it previously. That allows more time to cover something new. And with Mastery, again I really only focused on the high-yield stuff--I didn't kill myself poring over everything in the Periop Care, Head/Neck, Gyn, Urology sections, for example.

EDIT: And I'd add, I think reading the textbooks is somewhat easier than getting a handle on some of the primary literature. Sure, reading Cameron or ACS will give you the overview, but to take it to the next level, you really need to go to the original sources (as well as trying to keep up with the new stuff that's coming out). It's one thing to be able to say you know what the standard of care is for treatment of rectal cancer, but being able to quote some of the original articles/trials that made it that way is really that "next level". The "Suggested Readings" sections in the texts can be good for that. But I also found that reviewing the recent editions of Surgical Clinics of North America was helpful as well. I think some people scoff at that, but I thought it was a good place to find a concise review of some of that info.