Customer Reviews

Blueprints Psychiatry (Blueprints Series)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After hearing several positive things about Blueprints Psychiatry, I decided to go to the store and buy it. Didn't want to work too hard, didn't want to look like a total moron. Then I picked it up, and I think I've seen bulkier books written by another doctor (Seuss, that is). But brevity isn't necessarily bad, so I checked it out at the library instead and read it in 3 days of semi-hard studying. Yeah... I think should've gone with the other book, Green Eggs and Ham.

The problem with Blueprints is that it largely rehashes DSM-IV guidelines. That's OK, and it's a big part of psych, but you can get that with the Current Clinical guidelines pocketbook. What I was really expecting/wanting was something that (1) had bits of annoying trivia pertinent to the exam (2) more information on psychoactive drugs (3) described in more detail patient presentations and (4) discussed how other medical diseases could present like psych disorders. Blueprints skims these issues.

I would buy First Aid for the Psych Clerkship instead. It's a quick read as well but provides more info. I had a good score on the psych shelf, and I think switching primary sources had a great deal to do with it. If you like the Blueprints series, just check it out or borrow it from a friend. Blueprints Q&A, though, is an excellent question resource.

This book is concise and easy to read to cover psychiatry for USMLE step 2. The description of each topics are straight to the point, and focusing on the details that appear in the exam. The biggest weak point of this book is that it lacks clinical viganettes, so it can be hard for you to get the image of each disorders. So if you can get one of those clinical viganette books, that will be perfect. Additionally, they are missing some important topics, such as sleeping disorders, but still, this is the best available at this point.

This book helped me do quite well on Step 2. It is both concise and relevant. It covers the essentials with review-level depth; if you're looking for a core textbook, this ain't it. Its only drawback is the price per page ratio.

I read this book the day before starting my 3rd year psychiatry clerkship. It was amazing and made my life so much easier. You can easily read this book in an afternoon and get a great view of psychiatry as a whole. Its strength is its brevity and readability, while not sacrificing much in the way of actual content. A great book for medical students.

not enough info for the shelf- very basic- some good charts- i mainly used pretest and platinum psychiatry vignettes to study- good for quick review

This book is decent if you are looking for a quick read and a quick review. It doesn't have the depth that you will need for the Psychiatry rotation. It might serve as a good quick introduction, but you will need a more extensive source. It has some nice tables and some nice concise explanations. Overall, the good balances the bad and comes out to be 3 stars out of 5, average.

very short and concise book for psychiatry. covers all the high yield material for the boards.has got some good tables. the best thing about this book is it is just about 96 pages and makes it very easy to read.for step2 and step3 psychiatry this book will be of great help.

THE BOOK is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) and of course nothing can replace it. However, the DSM is a lot of book to carry around, is somewhat difficult to use, and costs a bunch. Although the authors say nothing about this, I find this book to be almost a mini version of the DSM. If you're looking up a personality disorder just to refresh your thinking, it's here. If you want a quick survey of medications, it's here.

The intent of the book is to be a review for USMLE, Steps 2&3 as well as an introductory text to a clerkship. It's a small book, easy to understand, and extremely complete for what it is intended to do. ==Highly Recommended.

This is an excellent book for a rapid review of Psychiatry for USMLE Step2. I could finish in three days. I have also read Kaplan Psychiatry notes. Its almost the same.I advise you not to read both because there is not much difference.If you want to chose one of them I would recommend Kaplan notes.It is devoid of some low yield stuff.

The books purchased were for my daughter who is a medical student at the local university. She had borrowed the same books from a friend but now has her own. I was at home last week and she is very happy with them.