BOOKS FOR THIRD YEAR
A survey was sent to 3rd year medical students asking them to list the books they would recommend for 3rd year core rotations.
These books are for rotations in obgyn, neurology, psychiatry, internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, surgery, anesthesia, or surgical subspecialties, etc.
Please feel free to add to this list.
GENERAL BOOKS
The Patient History: An Evidence-Based Approach
“This was the best book I used for third year. Read the chapter on the patient’s chief complaint before you go in the room, and it gives you a solid differential and all of the relevant questions to ask in just a few pages.”
PSYCHIATRY
“Psychiatry, 2006 edition” (little green book in the
bookstore)
INTERNAL MEDICINE
First Aid for the Wards
Blueprints Medicine
FAMILY MEDICINE
- The handouts they give
PEDIATRICS
- Blueprints Pediatrics
- The handouts and studies that they have you read
- Nothing. Parnassus had excellent didactics complete with
articles that taught me most of what I need to know. I heard good things about Blueprints, though.
SURGERY
NMS Casebook
Lange Q&A
Surgical Recall
OBGYN
Blueprints
GENERAL COMMENTS:
- The above are the main books that I used. I did use other books very
very sparingly. The above books allowed me to feel adequately prepared in each rotation!
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Section below will be organized soon.
Surgery. Surgical Recall is essential for pimping protection, Pre-Test
was excellent for Shelf prep, and NMS Surgery was great for more in-
depth learning and test-prep.
Ob-Gyn. Blueprints–you shouldn’t need anything more than that for the
Shelf. The little red pocketbook was useful for quick reference in
clinic.
Psych. The little green DSM-IV handbook should get you through.
Neuro. I really liked Lange’s Neurology text. Probably a bit more than
you need for the rotation, but it’s an easy read and definitely improved
my “fund of knowledge”.
Medicine. St. Francis Guide to Inpatient Medicine. Fits in your white
coat. Decent quick overview to review what you know, but nowhere near enough explanations to further your learning.
Family Medicine. St. Francis Guide to Outpatient Medicine. Very useful
because we’re already fairly familiar with a lot of the concepts and all
we need is a quick reminder before talking to or presenting patients.
Book List from class of 2008
Person 1:
-First Aid to Step 2, clinical knowledge (used for all rotations)-it was
nice to have a synopsis of things u needed to know for exams
-Medicine: ST Francis Guide to inpatient Medicine (I used a lot),
Massuchetts General Guide to Medicine(not sure of the name)-some people liked this but i used the St Francis a lot more, Dubin (EKG book).
-Peds: Blueprints
-OB/Gyn: Blueprints, but use Pretest to study for the shelf exam
-Surgery: Surgery recall, casefiles, Pretest(for shelf exam)
-Neuro: i read from first aid a lot
-Psych: there is a handbook for psych (can’t remember name, will find
out), but also used first aid
-Family: i am not using anything for family…but there is a st francis
guide to outpatient medicine.
But u will be using uptodate ALL the time. If you need to look
something up, just go to uptodate.
Person 2:
i used the “first aid”, “case files”, and “recall” series for each
topic. there is no set books in my opinion.
Person 3:
Neuro- (Lange Series) Clinical Neuro by Aminoff (not necessary since no
exam for neuro)
Psych- Primarily green pocket guide found in bookstore, Skim the Lange
series Pysch; be sure to know the legal stuff (5150, consent, capacity,
and all the FPC stuff
Family Medicine- Know the objectives they give you and know the USPTF
guidelines (i.e. specific familial risk factors for CAD, when to start
using anti-hypertensives, etc.) . Primary care people love guidelines
know these cold.
Medicine- Step Up to Medicine, Casefiles Internal Medicine. You should
be fine if you know these two cold.
Pediatrics- Blueprints and Casefiles series.
Surgery- Casefiles series, Briefly skim surgical recall, AND get the NMS
Surgery Casebook (know this book absolutely cold since this is the stuff
they pimp on more than casefiles). National Shelf exam used. This the
one rotation where studying like crazy is good, since you’re grade on
the shelf essentially determines your overall grade.
OB/GYN- Blueprints and Casefiles series. Know casefiles cold. Be sure
to know vulvar lesions for shelf exam. Make sure know objectives cold
since 50% of exam are essay question from objectives. National Shelf
exam used.
Wards- Get the following Pocket guides: Maxwell’s, Purple Pharmocoepia.
Saint Francis Pocket guide for medicine rotation.
Person 4
Medicine-First Aid for the Wards (great comprehensive read), UCSF
Hospitalist Handbook is a must (given during first day of rotation)
Peds-Student Syllabus
Ob/Gyn-Blueprints, Pre-test
Surgery-Surgical Recall, Pre-test
Psych-Green pocket reference (at bookstore)
Neuro – Everyone seemed to use the Mass Gen pocket reference
Family Medicine-Essentials of Family Medicine (Sloane)
The video below is a video by a medical student in New York Medical College. It’s called Read. Enjoy this while you write your note.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB_aA9Bymy8]
