Customer Reviews

Case Files Surgery, Third Edition (LANGE Case Files)

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

 

 

I agree with one of the other reviewers that this book contained a lot of interesting cases, but it was not particularly helpful for the shelf. I had 3 questions that were straight out of this book, but the vast majority of the questions can't be answered using this as a resource. I had a lot of heme/lab values on my test and 4-5 ethical questions where i felt at least three answers seemed quite reasonable. I don't really know how to study for those- they were situations that I never encountered on the wards or in lectures. I think a medicine review book probably would have been more helpful for most of the surgery shelf.

One more thing, for that guy who posted about "70% of questions" from the shelf being in this book, he also had that same quote about the OB/GYN case files. I think he's wrong on both counts.

Though this book remains one of the best surgery shelf prep books out there, it does not include as much of the shelf content as I had hoped. Be sure to supplement with another book as using this as your primary source will leave you scratching your head at many shelf questions.

Good if you just want to learn surgery related information. Bad for the shelf exam. Irrelevant information. Will make you wonder if you studied. Perhaps suitable for surgical residency pimping.

There are a lot of errors in the Q&As and no published/available errata that I could find. Probably other sources are more helpful - Pestana is free, efficient, pocketable, pretty comprehensive...

This study book should not be used alone for shelf prep, however it works pretty well for the wards. There are an embarrassing number of mistakes, most notably in the Q&A sections. Fortunately, it's easy to tell based on their explanations what the correct answers are in MOST of those questions. I would recommend Case Files as a second or third shelf study book, or to get warmed up for the wards. In my opinion, a good medicine study book, like MKSAP, is probably your best bet for the shelf. Other books in the series, such as Psych and Peds, are much better than this one.

Neither this book or surgical recall are the best for the shelf exam, but both of them serve the same purpose as good quick preparation for cases before pimping sessions, however, surgical recall is the better choice. I have the entire casefiles series for core rotations, and I like but don't love them, the best is Case Files for Internal Medicine. This one is neither here or there, if you like the format of case files then buy it, it has good information, but once again it isn't a great resource for the shelf exam... and if you're looking for a book to help you with pimping, surgical recall is much much better. For the Shelf I think Pestana, and Pretest are the way to go, at least that's what I did.

There are a lot of typos and errors, especially in the Q&A section. The answer choice often does not correspond correctly with the answer explanation. This is unacceptable.

Great book for third year surgery rotation. The NBME shelf exam covers patient management not surgical procedures so this is the type of material you should study for the self. It may not help for pimp questions but has a great basic review of surgical pathology.

I prefer (& should have used more) Pre-test & USMLE world q's for clerkships.

Case files are pretty good books, but not great. I'd suggest getting a text of some sort + practice q's, or just practice q's. Shame we end up so poorly versed in other areas of medicine after it's all said & done, but we don't have UK-length clerkships, so you have to cut down on how much you really learn. Oh well.

I found this book very helpful for approaching surgical material. Since the cases are random, you get a fresh start with every case to approach it logically and without "clues" from which section of the book you are reading. I haven't taken my subject exam in surgery yet, but I found this book to have almost everything you need to know in a great format.