First Aid for the Internal Medicine Boards
First Aid for the Internal Medicine Boards
ISBN: 007149913
Our Review
Any of you in Med School are familiar with this sweries of books and are aware of how well they are written. Along with the Kaplan Test Question Series this book is an essential part of getting ready for boards or the Shelf exams. One of the things that I really like about this book is its affordability. A prime example of a publisher not jacking up their price and increasing my med school debt.
The book does a very good job in going over the basics. I have gotten some critisim that this book is a liitle too basic for the step 2 exam. My arguement there is to please show me a book you reccomend instead? This series and publisher has proven themselves that they have a firm grasp of the content needeed to pass shelf and board exams. While true some information may be lacking, but Internal Medicine is such a HUGE discipline that indepth would easily cover multiple volumes.
On a scale of 1-10. 10 being best…………………………………………………………………………………………….91/2
Kaplan Medical Internal Medicine Question Book
Kaplan Medical Internal Medicine Question Book
ISBN: 142779572
Source: Kaplan Publishing
Our Review
There is a reason that Kaplan gets whatever price they want to charge us, this book reinforces that reason, IT IS GOOD. This book should be in every medical student arsenal for reviewing for the boards or their shelf exam. This book is packed with real world questions and explanations for answers.
For those of you that have taken Kaplan review classes this book and its format folllow their triecdand true formula of repetition, repetition, repetition.
There is little else to be said other than I have no reson why you would not have this book if you want to pass your exams.
Mayo Clinic Internal Medicine Review, Eighth Edition
Mayo Clinic Internal Medicine Review, Eighth Edition
ISBN: 142008478X
A completely revised and updated study tool that is invaluable for the American Board of Internal Medicine certification, maintenance of certification, and a general review by physicians.
With this source, physicians access a blueprint for exam preparation and acquire guidance on question format and type, and hints commonly encountered on the test. With more than 350 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS, this guide provides the resources needed to anticipate testing challenges and pass the exam.
Features include:
•Q&A segments and explanatory notes
•pharmacy tables highlighting indications, toxic effects, and drug interactions
• sections on indication clinical scenarios
•chapters on hospital medicine, cardiology, pulmonology, nephrology, critical care, geriatrics, preventive medicine, hematology, infectious diseases, women’s/men’s health
•a thorough index
•images, algorithms, and tables of practices, therapies, and medications used in the field
Source: Informa HealthCare Publishing
Our Review
This is a good book. Plenty of relevant information organized in an understandable format. The issue is that this book is way overpriced. For the price there are other books on this site which offer more bang for the buck. It is very evident that this was written by doctors. It is filled with the ambiance of superior people dictaying the correct answers as if you are wasting their time (makes you feel like your on rounds). Don’t get me wrong if you like your information straight and bland it is perfect, just a little expensive.
The Johns Hopkins Internal Medicine Board Review 2008-2009
The Johns Hopkins Internal Medicine Board Review 2008-2009
ISBN: 0323046991
Don’t gamble on the most important exam of your career! The Johns Hopkins University was the birthplace of the Internal Medicine residency and has led the field ever since. Now it’s also the source of the most effective review tool in the specialty! 70 respected experts summarize everything you need to know for certification or recertification, focusing on the information you really need to know. Then, they test your knowledge with 1,050 questions and answers – more than you’ll find in any other internal medicine review tool – both in print and online. The web site offers you a highly realistic exam simulation as well as detailed feedback on your performance.
•Be sure you’re studying the latest information with a book that’s totally updated every two years.
•Focus on the knowledge you need to pass the boards – and nothing else – with the book that most faithfully mirrors the content distribution of the ABIM exam.
•Get the information you need fast with a high-yield outline formatUnderstand and memorize complicated concepts effortlessly with abundant algorithms and conceptual diagrams.
•Review the most important content easily with must-know information highlighted throughout the textGet additional practice, and a realistic board exam simulation, by answering the same 1,050 questions online! The subject balance, number of questions and timing are just like the actual ABIM exam. You can get explanations of why each of your answers is correct or incorrect, either as you go along or at the end of the test. And, you can review your score and see how it compares with national norms… analyze your performance in different subject areas…and follow links tohigh-yield sources of remedial information.
•
•View over 475 clinical images, 370 in full color, covering all of the image types you’ll see on the boards – including X-rays, common skin findings, peripheral blood smears, ophthalmology findings, and CT and MR images.
•Add your own notes in the margins and check off content that you’ve mastered as you go along.
•Thoroughly test your knowledge with 1,050 questions mirroring the content and format of the ABIM exam – far more than you’ll find in any other review text – plus explanations of why each answer is or is not the best answer.
Source: Mosby Publishing
Our Review
Well this book has a big name to live up to. It fell a little short. While the information is clear an concise it comes across like a boring professor. The information is all relevant, the information is all up to date, however, I like a little action in my information. I had some friends look at it and they did like it but I feel the only way I could describe my feeling is that it was a little dry. Overall there were over 1000 questions with detailed answers. I am a huge fan of questions. The more the better.
The accompanying on-line questions are another thing all together. The questions were great. Very well written and the answers explained everything in great detail. my issue is that I had several problem logging on.
Case Files Internal Medicine, Second Edition
Case Files Internal Medicine, Second Edition
ISBN: 0071463038
Case Files: Internal Medicine,2e presents sixty clinical cases illustrating key points. Each case includes an extended discussion, definition of terms, clinical pearls, and USMLE format review questions. This interactive learning system is proven to improve shelf-exam scores and helps students to learn in the context of real patients instead of simply memorizing.
Source: McGraw Hill Publishing
Our Review
Overall a good companion book to read. The book took about two days to read and review. I got a couple of good diagnosis’s out of it. Really this book is a good review book for 3rd year student about to go into their internal medicine rotation. I found it pretty good to also review just before my Step 2 exam. It still has a lot of useful facts and I really like the way the cases are laid out and organized. That said it is NOT complete, so supplement your studying, but you should know this by now.
My only critique would be that I would prefer it to be organizing by organ system. I understand that the authors want it to be more life-like, not knowing what your patients going to come in with. But since my medicine clerkship is organized into sub-specialties, it would have helped me if it were organized into organ systems.
On a scale of 1-10. 10 being best………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 81/2
Pocket Medicine: The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine
Pocket Medicine: The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine
By Marc S Sabatine
ISBN 0781771447
Prepared by residents and attending physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital, this pocket-sized looseleaf is one of the best-selling references for medical students, interns, and residents on the wards and candidates reviewing for internal medicine board exams. In bulleted lists, tables, and algorithms, Pocket Medicine provides key clinical information about common problems in cardiology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, nephrology, hematology-oncology, infectious diseases, endocrinology, rheumatology, and neurology. The six-ring binder resembles the familiar “pocket brain” notebook that most students and interns carry and allows users to add notes. This Third Edition is fully updated, has tabs to help readers locate organ systems, and has more cross-referencing in the index. It also has pockets in the front and the back of the book to accommodate the reader’s own notes.
Source: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publishing
Our Review
Pocket Medicine, at least as I have used it, is the most concise and accurate reference for the practice of Internal Medicine in the United States as conducted at most teaching institutions today. It essentially covers all the major organ systems and disease processes as the most recent literature and textbooks recommend. Possession of this book will allow students, residents and staff to give patients the best care possible from evidence based medicine. You will shine on the wards and at morning report with this material. In fact, you could easily pass the Internal Medicine board certification exam if you knew everything in this book. For those practicing internal medicine from med students on up, it renders Scut Monkey, Ferre, Wash Manual, tarascon ICU books etc, all obsolete. Just look at the section about Swan Ganz monitoring -it’s all there. Look at microscopic polyangiitis- it’s all there. These are all real patients I’ve treated and this book works. More than half of the residents, students and staff in my hospital use it. Even surgeons own it. As medicine becomes more complex and scientifically based, publications such as this will be the only way to keep up. In fact, it’s very inexpensive for what you get.
One caution is that it may be too advanced for 3rd year med students with a poor knowledge base.
Some other cons to this book:
1. The typeface is too small.
2. The price is also a little up there
In conclusiosion pocket manuals are tough to review because everyone like differant layouts but this is by no means a bad manual infact what it has that Ferri’s doesn’t is evidence-based medicine. Several major studies (PIOPED, and the like) are summarized. So overall it is a good source.
On a scale of 1-10. Ten being the best………………………………………….8
Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th Edition
Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th Edition
By Anthony S. Fauci, Eugene Braunwald, Dennis L. Kasper, Stephen L. Hauser, Dan L. Longo, J. Larry Jameson, and Joseph Loscalzo, Eds.
ISBN: 10: 0071466339
The first edition of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicinewas published almost 60 years ago. Over the decades, the field of internal medicine has evolved greatly and has incorporated the spectacular advances that have occurred in the science of medicine into its armamentariumof diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. This textbook has evolved simultaneously to keep step withthese advances while at the same time maintaining an appreciation of the art of medicine and the principles underlying the optimal care of the patient. In shaping and revising this latest edition, the Editors have committed themselves to making the textbook an invaluable resource for students and practitioners coping with the demands of modern medicine.
From: accessmedicine.com
Our Review
One of the most striking elements of the textbook is the number illustrations and graphs. . The seventeenth edition features a plethora of visual aids to support and aid the reader in understanding and comprehension. Included on the enclosed DVD, this edition has approximately 800 more images and additional studying support features.
Many images illustrate complex concepts, pathways, and algorithms in a clear and compelling manner. The seventeenth edition also features many additional plain film, CT, MRI, and ultrasound images, in recognition of the increased use of radiological diagnosis in general medical practice. There is a considerable amount of pathology and clinical photographs that reiterate real world scenario cases.
This is a must have for any student on Internal Medicine rotation in year 3 along with any student looking to make this their career. This is a must have desk reference for any doctor or doctor to be.
On a scale of 1-10. Ten being highest………………………………………..10
Internal Medicine Question Book II
Internal Medicine Question Book II
Internal Medicine Question Book II
By Conrad Fischer
ISBN: 9780964833517
Publisher: PBS Publishing
The Conrad Fischer Internal Medicine Question Book II is better than the first. Now with 500 questions integrating the latest content from current ABIM examinations. Providing the most in-depth and interactive approach. Questions are presented in a clear manner with concise yet detailed explanations for each. This book is the ultimate tool when preparing for the Internal Medicine Boards.
Any expert in test taking will tell you that the fastest way to raise your test score is to practice questions. Conrad Fischer’s Internal Medicine Question Book II is the result of years of discussion with new trainees as well as those re-certifying for the boards who recently took their exam. The book is a companion to the full length live course, “Conrad Fischer’s Internal Medicine Board Review Course.” Dr Fischer has spent over 12 years in board preparation first as the Chair of Medicine for Arc Ventures/Compass and then as the Chair of Medicine for Kaplan Medical.
Proven expertise.
Dr. Fischer has been teaching and working with residents and students to prepare for medical board exams for over 12 years. During his 5 years as an Internal Medicine Residency Director, Dr. Fischer has helped his residents to dramatically increase their pass rates on the Internal Medicine Board exam from 52% to 100%!
From Kaplantest.com
Our Review
The reason why this is a good review book is because it makes you think. There are many question books that mainly focus on pattern recognition, which is also required for a good score, however, this book additionally challenges you further by making you do critical thinking and prepare for the unexpected. The price is a little steep but I feel is worth it.
Written by the creator of the nationally acclaimed course, “Conrad Fischer’s Internal Medicine Board Review,” the Kaplan Medical Internal Medicine Question Book offers 500 sample questions that teach students how to answer the most important topics tested on the American Board of Internal Medicine certification exam. The publisher claims “Under Dr. Fischer, the Board pass rate at a large New York residency program rose from 52 percent to 100 percent in one year.” Well that is a heck of a claim. They are saying that the entire staff of that university was useless without this guy…. eeh. I have dumb claims like this.
Back to the point…
With the most test-like samples on the market, this in depth book features questions framed as case studies that describe patient histories, physical exams, and lab data. Study questions quiz content, while detailed answer explanations ensure comprehension. The answers are actually quite clear and the reasoning I found to be easy to follow.
This book focuses on answering and analyzing the questions students face on the actual exam, (in theory) broken down into manageable chunks. Fischer’s offers a question analysis method that I found very useful in certain applications
On a scale of 1-10, ten being the best……………………………………….9
This book lost a point because for the price I exprect more than 500 questions. Even though the questions were great.
