RMstudents Technology meets medical education

INTERNAL MEDICINE

Clerkship Length: 12 weeks (4 weeks each of Rush, CCH, and Ambulatory)

Call: Q4 while on inpatient at Rush and County

Lectures:

Presentation:

Mini-Board:Known to be tough given broad range of info that it covers; high yield topics include DM, HTN, renal failure, asthma/emphysema, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, HIV, etc.

Pocket Contents: Maxwell Guide, Pharmacoepia, Pocket Medicine (see book reviews), stethoscope, pen light, reflex hammer, vision card, notepad, Sandfords guide

Internal Medicine Suggested Reading:

Textbooks:
Cecil’s Textbook of Medicine, ISBN 072169652X. ISBN 072169652X. One of “the sources” in IM, this is a thick book, and may seem overwhelming to the typical student. Many students read selected chapters, and use the rest as a reliable reference for the 3 month clerkship. (You can get this for free from the Rush Library Site if you don’t want to pay for your own copy; just remember that you need a proxy to access the material from off Campus).

Guides/Handbooks:
Pocket Medicine (Pocket Notebook), Sabatine. ISBN 0781716497. If you’re remotely interested in medicine, family, or even surgery, this is a great book! It fits in your white coat, and has everything outlined and bulleted in microscopic writing: tests to order, differential diagnosis, treatment of choice, criteria for diseases, etc. Most of the class had this book by the end of the 12 weeks. It is also available on CD for the PDA. Also good for surgery and family rotations. A must have!

The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics, ISBN 0781723590. Many of the residents at Cook County have this book instead of a palm pilot. (If you have a palm pilot, chances are you have this downloaded.) Also considered one of “the sources” in Internal Medicine, it is very good for defining criteria for different diseases, as well as outlining the treatment of choice for every imaginable medical condition. If you can’t get the latest edition of the book, skip it, since the point of this book is to have the latest info in IM.

Study Guides:
First Aid for the Medicine Clerkship, ISBN 0071364218. If you’re the typical med student, you might feel overwhelmed by the breadth of medicine (and the content of most textbooks), and not know what to focus on. This book has almost everything that you need to know for the mini-board (in outline format).

Step Up to Medicine ISBN 0781747872 This review book is similar to the First Aid series however has a combination of outline format and paragraphs for more detailed information. It is a great book to read through the month before the shelf to review.

MKSAP for Students 2 and 3, (2)ISBN 1930513445; (3) ISBN: 1930513623. These books are great for the mini-boards! Definitely a must for those who rely on questions to learn. The questions are LONG and HARD, but representative of the format and content of the mini-board, and Step II. Start it early and answer all the questions!

Pre-test Medicine, ISBN 007140287X. Like all of the pre-test books, this book is useful for reviewing. However, many of us felt that Pre-test Medicine is not as good for the mini-board as other Pre-Test books. The vignettes are short, and the content is too easy, often relying on regurgitating material rather than applying to the case. That said, it is not totally useless because it can help you review and learn some of the core concepts, especially early in the clerkship. As always with pre-test, the answers and explanations are well-written and easy to understand.