Customer Reviews

Family Medicine (The National Medical Series for Independent Study)

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

 

 

I used this book while on my Fam med rotation during 3rd year of medical school. At the time, there were not many books designed for medical students specifically on FP. The was no First Aid or Blueprints Family Medicine book for example.

This book was just average. The FP shelf exam is one of the most difficult ones. I found that the format of the questions in this book did not really reflect the types of questions usually asked on those shelf exams. This book was not that helpful, it was tedious to work through, and overall not an efficient use of study time.

I found it more useful to read through the Blueprints books again on Int. Medicine, Peds, and Ob/Gyn. The "Outpatient Medicine Recall" book is actually really good and I would recommend that book very highly.

Overall, this family medicine question book represents a decent review for the clerkship and shelf exam. I spent countless hours working through this book and managed to get through it once before the shelf, but I wonder if my time would've been better spent with another resource. Here are some things I noticed:

1. The cover clearly states "nearly 500 all new questions", but I counted about 870 questions! While more questions are welcome, it is definitely hard to master so many in a 6 week rotation. Had I known the true number of questions before, I would've considered purchasing the new Pretest Family Medicine book instead.

2. The style of questions does not resemble the nbme shelf exam questions (my subjective opinion after taking the shelf)

3. Some questions require a very detailed level of knowledge - to the point of splitting hairs to get the question right. Even after looking things up in several textbooks, there were some questions that I still could not find the answer to. I sometimes wondered if these were valid teaching points.

4. The answer explanation format could be better. Instead of listing each answer choice separately and stating why each is correct/incorrect, there is a paragraph. It was sometimes difficult to know which sentence went with each choice because there was no transition from one answer choice explanation to the next.

This question book was practically useless for the family medicine shelf. I would guess that less than 10% of the questions were relevant to the shelf or the family medicine clerkship itself. The questions focus on clinically irrelevant details of common diseases, and many of the answers seemed completely wrong. In addition, the question format was wordy, annoying and very different from the actual exam.

A much better choice would be to review the internal medicine, pediatrics and Ob/Gyn sections of the Kaplan qbook if you are the type of person who uses questions to study. Otherwise Case Files is probably a good choice by itself.

NMS Family Medicine is recommended by other students at our school too, except the questions are way too details and do not reflect the shelf exam format. I haven't found a better book but this is definitely not the best book to prepare for the Family Medicine shelf.

I got this book because I needed something to study for my M3 clerkship shelf exam and I was told Blue Prints was not good and there is no First Aid. It took me a long time to go through all of the questions and extensive explanations but it was totally worth it. Some of the questions I had on the shelf were almost identical to those in the book. I have since loaned my copy out to several people with rave reviews. This has been my favorite book in medical school so far!

This book was recommended by my school, but I found so many typos and serious medical errors that I don't recommend this book. For example, the CDC recommends the Tdap (instead of the Td) at the 11-12-year-old visit (pg 327 Q3, pg 332 Q12). Also, the American Heart Association guidelines on prevention of infective endocarditis no longer recommended bacterial prophylaxis for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (pg 297, Q22). Some answer explanations contradict themselves. For example, pg 163 Q2 "The answer is A, order growth hormone level testing" while choice A actually reads "order test for serum prolactin level". Overall, this is a comprehensive and thorough book that does a decent job tackling a subject that covers a wide range of topics. I applaud the authors for their efforts, but I hope they correct their errors in future editions.

Oodles of questions and explained answers, and it comes highly recommended by my fellow classmates who used it to study for the national shelf exams. (I also used Bratton's Family Practice Review and loved it.) The questions in NMS are usually high yield and well explained. One classmate specifically said that this was the only book he used for Family and he aced the exam. I guess that's a pretty good review. I liked this enough to mention it in my review for Bratton's in my listmania list for med school must haves.

Just use this and your set. I had a 4 week rotation in fam med & had not yet had, ob/gyn, peds or IM, but I did well using this text. I only got through half of the text, but did that the night before. I only wish I'd got it sooner.

I bought this handbook on the recommendation of another medical student. It has been a disappointment, however. For a "pocket book" of its heft, I was often amazed by its omissions (i.e., infectious mononucleosis), especially in light of the scores of pages devoted to psychology and counselling -- things I hardly need to fumble through my white coat for in desperation. While this handbook is not a total loser, I would much more strongly recommend the two Oxford handbooks for general medical reference for medical students and residents.

a book to increase the convenience of practice by family physician and residents, it cover most topices for family medicine