WHAT TO DO, for IM Rotation?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Sparhawk

Member
10+ Year Member
20+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
87
Reaction score
0
I will be starting my IM rotation in about 2 weeks...what should I do in order to prepare, what should I expect? Any ideas?

Members don't see this ad.
 
Get the book, "First Aid for the Wards". It'll tell you everything you need to know: 1. review of common conditions for IM, peds, OB/GYN, neuro, psych, and surgery. 2. how days in the different specialties are usually scheduled (when to expect morning report, prerounds, resident rounds, attending rounds, scut, conferences). 3. how to write SOAP notes and present patients. 4. how to avoid common problems/mistakes. 5. review of handbooks and ref books for each of the primary specialties. 6. what equipment you'll need for each specialty.

You should also get a few good handbooks. For IM you'll need "Scut Monkey", "Ferries", or "Wash Manual". You'll also need good drug references like "tarascon" and "sanford". However, the BEST way to go is to buy a PDA and get the following: ePocrates and ePocrates ID (both free), 5 Min Clin Consult ($60-70 but well worth it), Merck (free) and Medcalc (free). There are lots of other good books out there (go to www.Handheldmed.com) but those are the essentials.

You should expect long, hard days...not as bad as surgery, but definately one of the more demanding rotations. The hours are usually 7am to 5pm (unless you get late admissions) and depending on your school, you may or may not have to take call with the interns. Don't get scared though, you'll get LOTS of supervision and get to see LOTS of pathology and if you're lucky, you may even get to do some proceedures. Hope this helps. :D
 
My advice is to go to sleep right now and wake up one day before medicine starts. The first week of IM, I was in the hospital 110 hours!!! A good book to look at is Cecil's Essentials. It has everything at the depth expected of a third year med student. This in combination with looking up the strange cases in Harrison's will put you in good shape. I had huge goals when I started IM about reading a ton and doing questions for the shelf exam. Only got through about 85 pages of dedicated reading and barely got through Pretest before the shelf. However, because I was sooo busy, everything on the test seemed like a breeze!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Sparkhawk - Neurogirl has given some great suggestions for books.

You will need in your lab coat pockets:

- a pharmacopeia; get either Tarascon or Sanford
- a handbook; I liked the Oxford Handbook of Medicine but the Wash Manual is good as well
- your tools (scope, etc.)

On your shelf at home:
-a medicine text; I prefer Cecil but Harrison's is the classic
-a review text; Baby Harrison's is good, as is NMS Medicine, High Yield IM or pretty much anything geared for the boards. Not for primary use but to brush up. Consider Medicine Secrets or Medicine Recall for pimp Q & A.

You can get away with 1 text, 1 pharmacopeia and 1 review book. Don't go overboard because you will not have time to read them all.

First Aid for the wards is excellent on helping you get started, expectations, etc.

I also highly recommend these little pocket handbooks called "The Medicine/ER/Surgical/Peds/etc. Intern Pocket Handbook" or something to that effect. They are brightly colored, available in most med school books stores and generally cost about 8 bucks. Well worth it, especially for starting out. Lots of "how to" pages, info about differentials, etc. I think they are published by International Medical Publishing or something like that.

Good luck!

PS. Moving this over to Rotations and Residencies Forum for ya.
 
Top