Preparation Books

I am an Internist who bought this book prior to deploying to Iraq. I knew there would be alot of primary care procedures that I hadn't done alot of since med school. This made it easy. Casting, toenails, abcesses, suture techniques, trigger point injections, joint injections, etc. The procedures are clear, with enough information to make you feel very comfortable even if it's your first time. It had everything I needed working at a Level 1 Aid Station. I would also recommend "Fracture Mangement for Primary Care" (Eiff, Hatch, Calmbach) if you are going to be at a Level 2 with XRay capabilities.

I would give this one 6 stars. It is so good I felt comfortable using it to perform procedures I had never done before. I practice OM so alot of joint injections and trigger finger, eyes, and derm. Arranged by system so easy to find what your looking for. One thing I haven't seen in other books is this one starts with a detailed explanation of the disease or injury itself. For example, I always thought a skin abscess was simply a "pus filled cavity", but it is actually finger like projections of loculated granulation tissue. Description of technique is very detailed and easy to follow, with diagrams. Includes list of supplies needed for each. Also has contraindications, and an index listing contents of differents surgery packs for different procedures if you want to assemble them yourself. It covers a wide range of procedures for ortho, HEENT, Gyn, urology, ID, etc. I strongly recommend this book as a reference for any physicians that do office procedures. My hat is office to Dr. Zuber (FP) and Dr. Mayeaux (Ob/Gyn from my alma mater LSU). On a seperate note, the best ortho book EVER for primary care docs is "Emergency Orthopedics-The Extremities", by Simon and Koenigsknecht. Outstanding job!

Need to learn about the clathrin triskelion? It's in here. This book goes well above and beyond what I learned in Cell Bio and is amazingly concise in its consolidation. Will definitely be a welcome necessity for med and phys studies.

This book is the most brilliant book I read since the last 10 years. It is valuable, useful, and helpful in the field of histology. I recommend it for medical students and science students.

This is an excellent review book and it helps nail down concepts in pathology and beyond. It is difficult to find sometimes - but Kaplan has the book for the regular price of $29. I am not sure what fun and exciting version some of the used book sellers have that is worth $124. Great book, but watch what you spend. Be patient and you might be able to find a better price elsewhere.

The book is actually 405 pages. There is a great deal of information presented in a unique fashion which made it more interesting to read. I learned pathology from a different perspective through Dr. Brown's book (Thank you!)and was able to supplement and strengthen any previous knowledge. There were numerous (through out the book) typographical errors which need to be corrected.No erroneous info however. An excellent book.

Forget all those established names: Barron's, Princeton review, Kaplan...this book is written by less well-known publishers, yet it definitely deserves its money. The French grammar is thouroughly explained, beginning from the very basics to the harder parts.The vocabulary strictly relates to what is actually tested. The sections are well written and you are learning something you won't be tested.
There are 6 tests which ressembled up to 95% the actual test. You can clearly rely on this book for the exam. I got 800 from the first shot! So, you're not going to regret having bought this book!!!

this helped me alot, and actually let me pass my french SAT IIs! thanks a lot!

I only used this book for the entire clerkship and I was not only well prepared for the qeustions that came up on the wards, but also well prepared for the shelf exam. I aced the shelf by reading this book twice. If you don't have the time or the motivation for reading the actual Blueprints Ob/gyn reveiw book, I recommend studying from this book and you'll be set.

I used this book in preparation for the Shelf exam in OB/GYN and it was extremely helpful. Several questions on the exam were straight out of these vignettes. The varied style- some case info, some reading, some questions- for each vignette helped to maintain focus, and for me provided a much better prep than just the short questions found in many other books.

book small enough to carry around with you. has a good amount of material, not too sparse, challenging questions.

I wish I had this earlier in my Peds rotation. This book presents 50 vignettes, gives you the information step by step (like it would unfold on the wards) and prompts you to think about the differential, what labs to order, and what treatment to give. It's great because it has 50 common presentations (limp, fever with V/D, etc) and makes you THINK through the case instead of you simply reading the entire vignette with the diagnosis and treatment laid out for you. Additionally there are some case-specific questions at the end of each vignette.

Easy reading and Great pics!! If you want to be one up for procedures, get this text and read before your clerkships and/or subI's start. You will truly inpress your seniors who are teaching & pimping you on the wards!!

Cheers, Doc Todd

This book is a perfect reference to have for all third and fourth year medical students (interns too!). Great illustrations and step by step instructions on all of your basic procedures. If your intern is too busy to show you how to throw a double mattress, just learn yourself. If you know a paracentesis is coming up, read up on it with this book and you'll know exactly what's going on. This book teaches as well as some interns! While it won't boost your grade on any shelf exams, it will certainly impress any interns, residents, or attendings who let you do any procedures. It is a bit bulky and you can't carry it around, but keep it in your team room and use it to practice suturing at home. You'll be ages ahead of everyone else.

Flow is good. Real Fast reading . Ideal for the Step 2 exams.

The Blueprints 5-volume series is an excellent review source for the third- or fourth-year medical student preparing for Boards part II. Each book is a small paperback that are just small enough to fit into a white coat pocket. The illustrations are black & white, and are primarily drawings. The series is organized by discipline: Internal Medicine, Surgery, OB/GYN, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry. Each book presents broad major concepts, has a number of helpful mnemonics, and does an amazing job of covering the discipline in a little over 100 pages. I would definitely recommend this series to someone who is looking at review texts that s/he can carry with them on the wards. The only negative is that the books are still in their first edition (originally published in 1997) so some of the newer treatment modalities are (obviously) not mentioned. Overall, however, an excellent series which has been well worth the investment.

This is a concise, complete, relatively in-depth, portable and essential little book to have with you if you are interested in becoming knowledgeable in common urological topics. For the medical student, knowing and understanding the contents of this book would really make you stand out from the pack during 4th year clerkships in urology. In short, highly recommended.

This is a great book that every third year medical student doing a urology rotation or urology resident should have to review the most important concepts in urology.
Discusses the pathology, clinical presentations, diagnostic criteria, and treatment modalitites for the common and difficult diagnoses in urology. Also has a summary of the most common medications prescribed and their dosages used for common urological conditions.

read this book for HOW to answer the questions then read yao and artusio's book for what questions are on the exam (talking oral boards here). make sure you do some practice oral exams. the testers are fair but they play by their own rules and if you do not know the rules you have no chance of passing. look at it this way - could you win at poker if you did not know the rules of poker? the exam is not a real test of your real world decision making because that would be impractical - it would then have to be like an ACLS mega-code. instead the examiners are going to put you through a test to see how you think. HOW YOU THINK. not what you think, *HOW*. learning how to think is actually not difficult. and once you have it down, the oral exam is easy. good luck and if it is any consolation i really do empathize.

I WAY over-studied for the Orals (passed Sept 2005). This book was almost the exact format I had in my 2 exams. Don't be fooled by the simplistic approach they offer, it really was how the test went.

"Would you give blood to this patient ?"

"Yes, I would"

"Why", etc.
NOT- Whats the MAC of enflurane in this Patient, and other minutia that some of the board review courses push.

I also STUDIED "Clinical Cases In Anesthesiology" by Reed-Fantastic!-not as over-detailed as Yao, though I read it (Yao) in residency.

A helpful tip might be to make flash-cards of scenarios, ex: Hypoxia, Hypotension, Things that can go wrong when transporting a patient from the ICU, etc. It definitely helped with the test and, frankly having committed them to cold memory for this test has made me a better doctor. Everyone can discuss the DDx for hypotension, but being able to effectively run through the list in a SICK patient is a different matter altogether. Done preaching, Good Luck!