Starting with surgery rotation.. advise needed for shelf exam

[premed08]

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Im starting with surgery and i was wondering how should i prepare for the shelf exam given that i havent had IM. I have heard that a good chunk of surgery shelf is medicine so plz let me know if i need to study medicine along with surgery... what sources do u recommend?
sorry if this has been asked before

 

[FSU2013]

I had surgery second (and before IM). A lot of it was medicine, but the test wasn't terrible. Do all of UWorld for surgery (shouldn't be hard, there are only like 200 q's) and UWorld for GI. Read the Pestana notes once early in the rotations and again in the last week (only about 80 pages or so, double spaced). The NMS Casebook is very good. It is pointed and gives a 'if the patient comes in with this, what is the next step' set up which is helpful - read it twice. I read the big NMS textbook, that wasn't particularly high-yield - I wouldn't do it again if I had to do it over. The back of the NMS textbook has a 100 question practice test, it wasn't bad. I also read the Step-Up to Medicine GI, fluids/electrolytes and endocrine chapters early. The Lange practice question book is OK - I did them all - there were some excellent questions, but a bunch of esoteric questions too.

So, in summary
UWorld - Surgery + GI + any other system you're weak in
NMS Casebook (little red book, not thick textbook) - read twice if you have the time
Pestana notes - once early, then again the last couple days
Step Up to Medicine - GI, endocrine, fluids/electrolytes +/- other weak subjects
If you run out of stuff to do: Lange, NMS textbook

 

[turkeyjerky]

Agree with the above. Avoid recall and pretest like the plague, no matter what anyone tells you otherwise.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Meh, I thought Recall was helpful. It's not all that useful for the shelf, but it's great for pimp questions. I'd pick up an older version for a buck or two, if you can.

 

[premed08]

thanks FSU2013

 

[username456789]

Meh, I thought Recall was helpful. It's not all that useful for the shelf, but it's great for pimp questions. I'd pick up an older version for a buck or two, if you can.

Yeah, a cheap copy of Recall is great for OR pimp sessions, but completely useless for the shelf.

 

[turkeyjerky]

thanks FSU2013

What, no thanks for the rest of us?

 

[FSU2013]

What, no thanks for the rest of us?

Tough luck jerky, lol

 

[turkeyjerky]

Tough luck jerky, lol

man, that just rolls off the tongue doesn't it 😉

 

[ArcGurren]

I had surgery second (and before IM). A lot of it was medicine, but the test wasn't terrible. Do all of UWorld for surgery (shouldn't be hard, there are only like 200 q's) and UWorld for GI. Read the Pestana notes once early in the rotations and again in the last week (only about 80 pages or so, double spaced). The NMS Casebook is very good. It is pointed and gives a 'if the patient comes in with this, what is the next step' set up which is helpful - read it twice. I read the big NMS textbook, that wasn't particularly high-yield - I wouldn't do it again if I had to do it over. The back of the NMS textbook has a 100 question practice test, it wasn't bad. I also read the Step-Up to Medicine GI, fluids/electrolytes and endocrine chapters early. The Lange practice question book is OK - I did them all - there were some excellent questions, but a bunch of esoteric questions too.

So, in summary
UWorld - Surgery + GI + any other system you're weak in
NMS Casebook (little red book, not thick textbook) - read twice if you have the time
Pestana notes - once early, then again the last couple days
Step Up to Medicine - GI, endocrine, fluids/electrolytes +/- other weak subjects
If you run out of stuff to do: Lange, NMS textbook

Agreed with all of this except the NMS Casebook. I thought it was crap. Some of it is good but it's also saturated with a lot of detailed explanations of surgical procedures which are never, ever tested on the shelf exam.

 

[Soccer171983]

Surgery case files, nms, and pretest is what I did. No trouble passing. I took it last year. Know how to manage a surgical patients from pre op to post op.

 

[turkeyjerky]

Agreed with all of this except the NMS Casebook. I thought it was crap. Some of it is good but it's also saturated with a lot of detailed explanations of surgical procedures which are never, ever tested on the shelf exam.

That's a good point. I still think It's a must use book, but you can def skip all the procedure details.

 

[FSU2013]

That's a good point. I still think It's a must use book, but you can def skip all the procedure details.

Agreed - def skip the the procedural stuff. I killed the shelf and I attribute most of it to this text. It is designed to give you the necessary pattern recognition stuff for the shelf.

 

[Soccer171983]

Def know "the next best" in terms of ex lap vs other procedures though durin various emergent situations.

 

[ArcGurren]

That's a good point. I still think It's a must use book, but you can def skip all the procedure details.

Agreed - def skip the the procedural stuff. I killed the shelf and I attribute most of it to this text. It is designed to give you the necessary pattern recognition stuff for the shelf.

It might be more helpful if surg is your first rotation then. I actually didn't find it very helpful at all for my shelf exam, as I thought most of it was medicine that was vaguely related to surgery... one of my questions asked me to diagnose an insulinoma based off of lab values, another asked me to identify the contents of a pleural tap, etc.

 

[clinicallabguy]

Im starting with surgery and i was wondering how should i prepare for the shelf exam given that i havent had IM. I have heard that a good chunk of surgery shelf is medicine so plz let me know if i need to study medicine along with surgery... what sources do u recommend?
sorry if this has been asked before

Thanks for asking this and for all the responses. I am not starting with surgery, but I have it before medicine. I have lighter rotations for the first 4 months, so would anyone advise doing as many medicine questions in UWorld before surgery as possible in addition to what was suggested?

Thanks.