Customer Reviews

Case Files: Surgery

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This is a new book in Dr. Toy's case files series. It is the best book I read to help me prepare for the surgery shelf exam (better than NMS, Surgical Recall, First Aid, etc.) It contains 55 cases that cover the most commonly encountered problems students will see on the surgery shelf exam and in clinical practice. It covers definitions, diagnosis, and management of disease. Most importantly, this book teaches students how to think about and answer correctly questions on the exam, especially the many questions that ask, "What is the next step in management?" Format makes book easy and fun to read, great for reading a couple of cases even when students are very tired from the long hours of a surgery rotation.

For the new third year students out there, you'll be inundated with study materials to help you prepare for wards and shelf exams. But the way you learn and the way you are tested is totally different now. You are expected to learn independently and apply that knowledge on wards and on tests (shelf exams will ask what to do to manage patients or the next step in treatment)

This is where Case Files comes in. For the first half of the year, I used other texts that presented the information in a standard textbook way. While they were easy to read, I often forgot most of the salient points about each disease. It was extremely frustrating for me to waste so much time. But Case Files is different. Each book in the series presents 50-60 clinical scenarios that you'll see not only on wards, but also on your shelf exams and step 2 CK.

Each case is presented the same. First you read the scenario, then it asks you a couple of overview questions about things like diagnosis, treatment, and initial management. Then background information is present. First, there is an analysis section where key terms are defined, background info is presents, clinical considerations and management issues are addressed; it's like what you get in other texts but it applies to a real (albeit simulated) patient. Then questions are presented at the end to reinforce what you just read. One of my favorite things is that clnical pearls are summarized at the end of each case (these are great to review the day before a test).

The Surgery book in the series was no different. Having just taken the shelf exam, I feel like this book did a great job of covering the majority of the material with very little prep time because the book is easy to read and the information sticks in your head. Other books are frustrating in that they are boring and take too much of your precious time to have such a low yield. I kept wanting something better, and I found it with the Case Files series. With a minimal amount of outside reading, you'll be surprised with how fast you'll go through this book, remember important facts about your patients, impress your attendings, and see great shelf exam scores (I know mine went up)