First Aid for the Wards by Tao Le, Vikas Bhushan, Julia Skapik

From the Publisher

The perfect primer for the core clerkships written by students who excelled!

Don't begin third year medical school without reading this book! Written by students for students, this high-yield guide helps you move smoothly from the classroom to the wards. Thoroughly revised and updated, this comprehensive book explains what to expect in each required rotation and includes sample notes and reports, key facts, formulas, and protocols, and answers to "pimp questions" you will be asked on rounds.

Lawrence C. Brotherton

Written by medical students and residents who excelled in the core rotations offered during the junior year, this is a survival guide for students who are entering the clinical phase of their training. The purpose is to concisely offer the practical information necessary to facilitate the transition from the didactic to the clinical years and succeed as a clinical clerk. This text is clearly written for the medical student. Although a student initially entering the wards will benefit the most from the text, it remains a valuable resource for anyone during the junior year. Seven chapters describe the ward experience in general as well as the core rotations, with emphasis on what happens during a "typical" work day, the common pitfalls to avoid, and the various roles of the student. Within each chapter, there are: definitions of jargon; highlighted key points; numerous tables; illustrations; examples of notes, orders, etc.; a section that lists and rates the available review and reference texts relevant for each core rotation, which helps the student select the most appropriate texts and prevents wasting money and time on ineffective texts; and a section of "High Yield Topics" that provides an overview of the most common conditions encountered during a particular rotation. This serves as an excellent tool for focusing on the readings that one must complete. This is a "must have" book for every medical student preparing to enter the junior year. It is easy, rapidly read, and contains many of the "pearls" which become obvious only after learning them "the hard way" in the crucible of the wards. This text should be issued to every medical student entering the clinical years onorientation day.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Jennifer Paulsen Waugh, BS (University of Iowa College of Medicine)
Description:This book, written with contributions from medical students and residents who aced their core rotations during the clinical years, is a survival guide for students during their clinical years. The third edition of this book was published 2005.
Purpose:The purpose is to provide practical information to medical students entering the clinical phase of their education that will ease the transition from classroom to clinic. The authors compiled a list of "I wish I would have known that!" information that would be useful for medical students unsure of what to expect on the wards. This book is useful for medical students who need extra help during this transition.
Audience:Intended for medical students entering and continuing the clinical phase of their education, this book may be too simple for more advanced medical students who are used to the inner workings of clinical medicine. The authors take feedback from medical students and residents who did well in each core clerkship. They know how each rotation works fairly well, but are not authorities on what facts are the most important.
Features:The common expectations of a medical student on each core rotation are covered. General, high-yield material with useful mnemonic devices on each of the core rotations is provided in a concise, logical manner that would be useful for beginning third year medical students. The book uses templates that show examples of effective admit orders, admit H&Ps, and SOAP notes. The mnemonic devices are helpful for reviewing information that hasalready been learned. A unique section includes brief synopses of review books popular with medical students throughout the country, a great tool for medical students needing extra resources. This book may be better suited as a review of how to excel on the wards rather than as a prediction of expectations and important information on the wards. Expectations are best gathered by asking attending physicians. The material provided for each clerkship is meant to help medical students master facts that can be used as "pimping" questions rather than to help them master the material needed to do well on the clerkship exam. The authors do not necessarily make this clear. There are no clinical vignettes or practice questions that would be expected of a review book.
Assessment:This book is good for third year students who may have trouble transitioning from the classroom to the clinics. They may find the "I wish I would have known that!" information useful when they are unsure of what to do or how to act on the wards. However, the book tries to incorporate too many extra facts into sections devoted to each of the core clerkships. The facts are high-yield, but are not useful if the student is still trying to acclimate to clinical medicine. Students should refer to more comprehensive resources while studying for each clerkship. The "What is the Rotation Like?" sections are not very useful as each medical school, attending physician, and resident has different expectations. The book repeats a lot of the same principles that make a good medical student when reviewing each core clerkship. Because these principles do not change, a new edition was not really necessary to convey the most useful information.

Rating

4 Stars from Doody

Product Details

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Table of Contents