Staying up to date...

I'm in an academic environment so I read Up to Date a lot. I also read AFP when I have time over a coffee break or during lunch time. Then I learn a lot from residents and medical students.

 

Info POEMS to my email every morning. I read NEJM via google reader every week, same with JAMA and Pediatrics. This is all while running around the hospital from floor to floor. I need to figure out an easy way to read the Green journal because my university doesn't provide it for free. I think I might buy it because of the usefulness.

I have AFP sitting by my toilet at home, and I read an article a day

 

And I thought I was the only one!

 

AFPs are what my former attendings called "throw away journals." Well, after you read them of course.

 

AFP is really good. Even as a pediatrician I like the AFP, though I might quibble with a few points on pediatric related articles. For a really good Peds "throwaway" look into Contemporary Pediatrics, by far my favorite.

 

I stay UpToDate with UpToDate. Between patients I regularly bring up the UpToDate article about their presenting problem and just click on the summary section to skim the main points. That and AFP of course, which I am about to settle into and read about Casts.

 

It's an excellent practical journal.

 

Teaching's the best way to keep current.

AFP's my mainstay review journal. Residents like UpToDate. I like UpToDate too and use it, except I find it hard to read on a leisurely basis. Also, UpToDate's not peer reviewed. It's reviewed and edited, but sometimes their approach is based on the author's opinion. Which is fine. So long as you know that it may just be one person's approach.

I like AFP's SORT. It tells me what the bottom lines are in terms of A, B, and C level evidence.

MedPageToday's set as my homepage. I get my medical current events from here. And I'll pull the article if it's something that I think will be controversial in my practice. (There's always a link). There're many similar sites, like Medscape. But basically I'll browse through the headlines to see what the latest published trial or conference is saying. I keep up this way because my educated patients (and colleague physicians) do, either from watching the evening news or listening to NPR, which are usually captured on MedPageToday.

BTW, speaking of AFP... you should read the 1/1/09 issue of AFP. There's an article in it called "Keeping Up with Medical Literature"... you might find it very timely...

 

The most current issue of AFP has an article on keeping up to date with weblinks to resources. Read it if you have access to it.