Recommended reading during PGY1 year?

[mrbreakfast]

I will have a busy PGY1 year and will primarily focus on medicine, but have heard one should get neuro textbook or two (plus study neuroanatomy) to read during PGY1. I've seen older recommended lists, but am wondering what SDN suggests.

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[Postictal Raiden]

Focus on IM now.

You’ll have the rest of your life to learn neuro

That’s the advice I got from my neuro PD

 

[MudPhudHopeful]

I second Ibn Alnafis. My PD also said the same thing to me.

 

[Thama]

You'll want to know what you're doing with inpatient medicine when you finish your intern year because most of your attendings likely won't have a clue.

 

[Sitagliptin]

I echo all of the above. Study IM and learn it well. I liked the Washington Manual but your mileage may vary.

I don't know what if any exposure you have to neuro at your program but I would read the Continuum articles for the stroke issue (there's one from 2017) if you have stroke wards as a rotation. If you have any General Neurology wards read how to treat status epilepticus and myasthenia crises. My program was categorical and we had two neuro months with one each of stroke and general neurology, and I found this approach helpful.

 

[mrbreakfast]

Thanks. I am also concerned about exposure, as I need to narrow down my interests and (as far as I can thus tell) my elective/outpatient exposure across PGY1/2 will be just a few weeks in total.

 

[Asklepian]

I would second Continuum. The thing about Continuum is that you can basically cover the whole of neurology with it and it's an invaluable resource. The downside is that it takes quite a bit of time to truly make it through and master each issue. You should have access to Continuum online through your AAN account and so what might be useful is to read the sections that are most pertinent to junior neurology call (how to triage and care for acute stroke, treating status epilepticus and new-onset seizures, basic MS DMT initiation, dizziness, etc.) I have found that case-based learning can be quite helpful in that regard.

Another option would be something like a primer that touches on multiple areas of neurology. One that many of my colleagues have been using recently is Comprehensive Review in Clinical Neurology: A Multiple Choice Book for the Wards and Boards. This is probably especially good if you like to learn from Q&A. You could then refer to Continuum or something like Adams and Victors or UptoDate/PubMed for areas where you have more in-depth questions.

Hope this helps as a jumping-0ff point.