White Coats and Pocket hand books.

[RussianJoo]

I think I know the answer to this but I'll ask it anyway. Do we have to buy our own white coats for clinical training? And they have to be short, correct? Also can anyone recommend a few pocket reference books I know pharmacopoeia is a good one.

it would be great if someone could post a book or two per rotation.

thanks in advance for the replies.

[dunsoon]

The hospital should provide short jacket for you. I started out carrying a pharmacopia but then carried around a Palm that I could look up diseases and drugs whenever I needed it. Because carrying around the books got heavy.

[RussianJoo]

i need the work out. and wouldn't really use the palm's full functions to make it worth while for me.

thanks for the reply.

[rokshana]

whether you get a white coat from the hospital is the hospital's call...some do, some don't...don't know about barnabas (joes does and you get a meal card for the month!:D).

maxwell's is a good one to have in the beginning .once you get the hang of writing your notes, you may not use it as much, but its inexpensive and helpful enough so worth it, IMHO.

pharmacopia is good if you aren't going to use a palm (then you can use epocrates instead).

pocket medicine (is in a red binder now, but the older ed is blue and is probably good enough) is very good-has everything in it and quite compact. Its good for med and family.

pysch and ob i didn't carry anything, peds, while i didn't carry anything (my interest was low...) many people carried the harriet lane handbook. surg, didn't carry anything, but had a copy of surgical anatomy and technique in the surgical conference room where i had access to it- great book for making you look smart to your attending during surgery!

[RussianJoo]

cool thanks a lot rok! i'll definitely check out those books.

[dunsoon]

i need the work out. and wouldn't really use the palm's full functions to make it worth while for me.

thanks for the reply.

Aah, then definitely need a Pharmacopia, a Maxwell's (I made little notes in mine that came in handy), a pocket Harrison's/Washington Manual/Pocket Medicine for internal med (one should suffice although I made frequent use of both Harrison's and Washington), Sanford Guide to Antimicrobials (useful but not necessary), a Surgical Recall for surgery (this book is a MUST in my opinion - all pimping seems to come straight out of this book), didn't use pocket references for OB/Gyn, psych, or peds but there is a Hopkins pocket reference book for peds (harriet lane) mentioned by Rokshana if you're into peds. Additionally, Tarascon publishes a lot of little reference books like for Emergency medicine, internal medicine, critical care, etc. that you may want to browse.

[rokshana]

the tarascon critical care one is really good--forgot about that one!!

[RussianJoo]

cool what about big texts? do I need to buy any of those or will i just be able to read them at the hospitals library?

[jaywalk81]

there are from what i have gather from vmd and sdn forums and the books i have gotten so far

sanford guide
maxwell
epocrates or pharmcopeia

big books are
blue print for peds and ob are very good from what i read
for sugery is surgery recall, if you want a true text book, you can get the surgery book by lawrence
for IM, there is a bunch, such as step up to medicine, cecil, harrison, FA, etc. go and browse and see what you like, tho FA isnt that good, and harrision and merck can be too bulky and dense to read. most ppl seems to have step up book

overall review book:
boards and wards or usmle 2 secrets

[RussianJoo]

What about First Aid for other rotations besides medicine?

[dunsoon]

First Aid for the Wards is good to read/skim before you start your clinicals. I just read it in the bookstore.

First Aid for Step II is not detailed or comprehensive enough for you to use on the wards as a reference. Nor does it discuss management very thoroughly. It's primary use is for board review, however, barely used it for Step II because I didn't think it had everything I needed.

[RussianJoo]

First Aid for the Wards is good to read/skim before you start your clinicals. I just read it in the bookstore.

First Aid for Step II is not detailed or comprehensive enough for you to use on the wards as a reference. Nor does it discuss management very thoroughly. It's primary use is for board review, however, barely used it for Step II because I didn't think it had everything I needed.

no i meant first aid for the clerkships series. here's an example of the surgery book. Amazon.com: First Aid for the Surgery Clerkship (First Aid Series): Latha Stead,S. Matthew Stead,Matthew S. Kaufman: Books (http://www.amazon.com/First-Aid-Surgery-Clerkship/dp/0071364226)


are these any good? has anyone used these?

[jaywalk81]

i only have heard FA psych is ok, rest noone even bother

[dunsoon]

OH, um, I didn't even know they made those. So I can't comment.