Studying for surgery rotation/shelves

[studentdoc911]

I've had a few rotations but not really sure how to go about studying for surgery/shelves. I have Surgical Recall, NMS, and UW. So far, I've been preparing by reading about surgeries that we've done/scheduled for.

Is there a comprehensive guide that's good .. ex: FIRST AID Psych was amazing. Something similar? I've heard about Pestana Notes.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[officedepot]

I think first aid is probably the best for the shelf. I also did nms casebook (not very helpful for the shelf but good for the rotation in general). I enjoyed case files as well. The pestana notes I've heard were good but I kinda just glossed through them quickly and thought they were ok.

There really isn't a very good question source. Some say uw. I tried pretest and kaplan with mixed feelings. I'm still not sure how best to practice questions to be honest. The test has mostly medicine topics and since I had the rotation before medicine the test was difficult for sure.

 

[45408]

there's an 800-post thread about it here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=219761

 

[235009]

this is what i used:
FA for surgery (only the "high yield topics" section)
Lange Q&A (did about half the chapters)
Pestana kaplan videos while following along in the pestana notes
Kaplan QBook questions (the questions basically test whether you were paying attention to pestana)
UWorld surgery questions

i also had lectures 2x/week and had access to online video case discussions (which i watched)

result: 91 raw score, 97th percentile ....even though i definitely walked out feeling like it kicked my butt

for the record i had not taken medicine (doing it now)

a word about NMS casebook: it sucks. if surgery is one of your first blocks (especially if you have it before medicine) DO NOT start with this, you'll learn nothing. you need to first know things before you dive into passively reading cases. start with FA so you can actually learn something then if you have time read some NMS.

Lange was total overkill, many of the questions were way too detailed compared to the shelf. unfortunately there just aren't enough questions out there and Lange is the lesser of two evils (i heard pretest is trash). just take it in stride and don't get too hung up on the questions you get wrong

the way you should be thinking when approaching every topic in surgery is:
1. what test do i do to diagnose the problem or what is the diagnosis?
2. what is the medical management?
3. when is the right time to do surgery? (whether it's a chronological time, lab values, clinical symptoms, etc)
...you will have questions about all three on the shelf

i've heard people say to study medicine concurrently with surgery or do medicine questions in UWorld. i don't think this is sound advice. it's the kind of advice people give in hindsight. it's not what they did but theoretically it's a good idea. however, there is no way you'll have the time to actually do this. stick to surgery-specific resources and you should be fine.

 

[MossPoh]

i've heard people say to study medicine concurrently with surgery or do medicine questions in UWorld. i don't think this is sound advice. it's the kind of advice people give in hindsight. it's not what they did but theoretically it's a good idea. however, there is no way you'll have the time to actually do this. stick to surgery-specific resources and you should be fine.

I did it....I didn't do ALL of IM, but I did do endocrine, GI, and a few other sections.

I thought it helped a bit. It isn't too much effort to just tag some of those questions in at the end if you have uworld.

 

[surglover]

I want your advice about my special case! I will start Surgery SubI & other surgical aways after two months..The problem is my M3 Surgery reading was not solid! It was just Surgical Recall & few topics from other books. May you help me what to read in order to have knowledge & clear concepts ? What to read beside Surgical Recall for M4 ? Is it Lawrence, Kaplan Surgery, NMS, Case Files, First Aid or ?? 🙁

 

[studentdoc911]

I don't understand how you guys can even begin to have time to do all this.... I get back home at around 7-8 and then have to go to bed by 11 and get up at 4....

 

[235009]

of course you have to carry books with you and read or do questions during your down time and use your weekends to catch up as much as you can. luckily though at my school half the rotation is gen surg and the other half is sub-specialty electives so my schedule got much better toward the end of the rotation. if i had to put up with the gen surg schedule 5am-7pm, going to bed by 10pm during the whole rotation I would have probably gotten 50th percentile or less.

 

[st2205]

I don't understand how you guys can even begin to have time to do all this.... I get back home at around 7-8 and then have to go to bed by 11 and get up at 4....

That's just because you're one of the 20% of medical students below the 80th percentile.

 

[MossPoh]

Admittedly, my surgery rotation was fairly cush compared to many. We have a preceptor/mentor type system and my attending was mostly surgical oncology. At the hospital he is at, they aren't required to take ER once they hit 60. This resulted in me having only having to write notes on 3-4 people in the morning before operating, which usually began around 7:30 or 8. I always had a book or copied a chapter and kept it in my pocket for downtime. He also focused his questions less on surgery recall type crap and more on evaluation/management. My number of cases was probably less than many people, but I saw a HUGE variety which helped tremendously. Not too many med students get to be first assist for a whipple.

I also force myself to do one hour a day regardless of how tired I am. Oftentimes, it just leaves my head but the forced routine helped.