We were given our books this week and I knew Tintinelli's would be around 2500 pages but, are we supposed to finish this book by the end of first year? It seems like a lot to read in addition to 20 shifts/month, journal articles, lectures, studying for step 3, and reading about other specialties during off-service rotations. I remember during one of my interviews there was some guy that said he read both Tintinelli's and Rosen's by the end of 2nd year. I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with all of this. Any residents/attendings want to comment on your experience with this.
Reading for first year
- Thread starter gizmo007
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Do what you can, read what you can, learn what you can. Everyone has their own pace and style. Find your max, test it and try to go beyond it.
Try to learn something new from each and every patient; when you dont know something, look it up.....
Focus more on learning Emergency Medicine than reading every word in a textbook and not learning anything....
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Some thoughts:
1) Why in the hell would you stress about studying for Step III? If there is one specialty that was designed for taking Step III, it's EM.
2) Read about the stuff you see during your shift. eMedicine or UptoDate are useful (actually a little more so than Tintinelli, which is overly simplistic) and easy to read.
3) Reading Rosen in its entirety is not necessary to becoming a good or even excellent EM doctor. Rosen is something of an attempt to make a Harrison's for EM, but we don't need to know that level of detail. On some subjects it's badly out of date. Also, it endorses a level of certainty in an H&P's diagnostic ability that is at odds with the ambigiouity with which we deal.
4) Some residencies work fewer shifts, some work more. If you're at a residency doing 16 8hr per month, you'd better be an amazingly well read individual. If you're doing 20-22 12h shifts per month, you're going to end up seeing a lot of what you'd otherwise only have read about.
5) Relax, read (or listen to podcasts etc.) diligently, and don't stress about it. You can't learn the entirety of the scope of EM in 3 or even 10 years, so stressing about it is not productive.
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At this stage in the game, expecting to read Rosen's or Tint cover to cover is incredibly unrealistic and a total ineffecient way to study.
When I was an intern, I tried to read Rosen's cover to cover. Made it through cardiology section and called it quits. Took to long, had poor recall of what I read, and had a nasty habit of making me fall asleep.
Instead, I would study in spurts. I would read something on a case I had that day, especially ones I didn't know what to do on. I listened to EM:RAP at the gym. I had an article or two in my white coat on my floor months when I was bored out of my mind.
And it all worked. Killed inservice, pass boards, and now I teach residents.
Bottom line, you've been a resident for 3 days. Relax. Focus on just surviving in July. Then you'll find a method that works for you. But don't think that reading cover to cover is required, expected, or even the best way to go about things.
When I was an intern, I tried to read Rosen's cover to cover. Made it through cardiology section and called it quits. Took to long, had poor recall of what I read, and had a nasty habit of making me fall asleep.
Instead, I would study in spurts. I would read something on a case I had that day, especially ones I didn't know what to do on. I listened to EM:RAP at the gym. I had an article or two in my white coat on my floor months when I was bored out of my mind.
And it all worked. Killed inservice, pass boards, and now I teach residents.
Bottom line, you've been a resident for 3 days. Relax. Focus on just surviving in July. Then you'll find a method that works for you. But don't think that reading cover to cover is required, expected, or even the best way to go about things.
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As others have said, just a little every day (or try to. Easier said than done). The other good thing is that most of the tintinalli chapters are very short, just a couple pages. So if you read 1 chapter a day well, you'd be doing very well.
at the end of each shift, i come up with 3 focused questions/topics and try to read about them. Try not to pick topics like chest pain. They are so broad and can be overwhelming to tackle after a shift. Instead, read about chest pain with a new LBBB or something like that.
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What about instead of reading a textbook like Rosen's on Tintanalli's, reading a review book like River's? I've always done better with review books.
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I say spend most of your "study time" studying for step 3 and just get it out of the way ASAP so you can spend the rest of your time reading EM related stuff.
Let's face it, that's really what you're going to be worrying about. Every time you read some EM text, you'll be worrying about when you have to take Step 3 and whether you should be doing questions or not. Just get it out of the way so it's not a distraction any more. There's a lot of medicine minutiae and other stuff on that test that is quickly lost the further out from med school you are, and isn't really stuff we think about, or at least think as deeply about on a day to day basis in EM.
Just read what you can, when you can. As mentioned, uptodate or reading brief snippets about something you're treating in the ED is a quick way to learn and helps you retain. As Arcan mentioned, it also depends on how busy you are in residency. Last year, I think we averaged about 18 or maybe 19 12 hr shifts and I honestly gave up on all my Rosen's scheduled reading assignments about 3 months into the year and started using other, more brief and concise texts simply because I didn't have the time to read everything. That being said, I feel like I saw ALOT of stuff in the ED and was actively reading stuff about it while I was treating it, so retained and learned more than I thought I would after that year was over. After reading the 1000 questions book for our ITE, I was surprisingly much more prepared than I thought I would be.
This year, I'm working fewer shifts and will prob have more time to read. Just do what you can and pick a text or review book that doesn't put you to sleep. Rosen's is like benadryl for me, I'm out after 5 pages and don't recall anything I just read.
Let's face it, that's really what you're going to be worrying about. Every time you read some EM text, you'll be worrying about when you have to take Step 3 and whether you should be doing questions or not. Just get it out of the way so it's not a distraction any more. There's a lot of medicine minutiae and other stuff on that test that is quickly lost the further out from med school you are, and isn't really stuff we think about, or at least think as deeply about on a day to day basis in EM.
Just read what you can, when you can. As mentioned, uptodate or reading brief snippets about something you're treating in the ED is a quick way to learn and helps you retain. As Arcan mentioned, it also depends on how busy you are in residency. Last year, I think we averaged about 18 or maybe 19 12 hr shifts and I honestly gave up on all my Rosen's scheduled reading assignments about 3 months into the year and started using other, more brief and concise texts simply because I didn't have the time to read everything. That being said, I feel like I saw ALOT of stuff in the ED and was actively reading stuff about it while I was treating it, so retained and learned more than I thought I would after that year was over. After reading the 1000 questions book for our ITE, I was surprisingly much more prepared than I thought I would be.
This year, I'm working fewer shifts and will prob have more time to read. Just do what you can and pick a text or review book that doesn't put you to sleep. Rosen's is like benadryl for me, I'm out after 5 pages and don't recall anything I just read.
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I had been reading First Aid's EM board review book and was just referencing out of Rosen's but recently picked up the AAEM core curriculum review book. It's pretty good, check it out.
D
deleted65604
I had the goal as well numerous times of reading Tintinelli cover to cover. I failed miserably and my experience mirrors mighty mouse's. For a book to be a "bible" it has to be shorter than 800 pages. I loved Tintinalli's "just the facts". I read through it a few times during residency and found it a great review book.
http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Medicine-Just-Facts-Second/dp/0071410244/ref=cm_lmf_tit_6
Our specialty isn't like radiology or neurology, whose goal is to end up with an encyclopedic knowledge of all the possibilities. Your goal as a resident should be to become proficient in those few procedures we perform and to not miss emergencies, ever, while still being able to move the meat.
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Thanks. I'll have to check out the AAEM book.
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I gotta say, I just discovered ACEP's "Critical Decisions in Emergency Medicine" and the couple I've browsed are fairly nicely written UpToDate-level content overviews of relatively relevant EM problems.
It should be something you'll have access to via your ACEP membership through your residency program.
And, of course, EM:RAP and EM Abstracts via EMRA are great if you have a commute or drive to visit a significant other on the weekends, etc.
It should be something you'll have access to via your ACEP membership through your residency program.
And, of course, EM:RAP and EM Abstracts via EMRA are great if you have a commute or drive to visit a significant other on the weekends, etc.
