Customer Reviews

First Aid for the Psychiatry Clerkship, Second Edition (First Aid Series)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the best resource I found made for a third year med student. I felt confident answering my attending's questions, and I got an 86 on the NBME shelf (after bombing the surgery exam) by constantly studying this text. Blueprints was too skimpy, while NMS was too dense and seemed to regurgitate DSM guidelines. The book, typical of the First Aid series, gives good overviews of common diseases while hitting those testable pearls of wisdom that are rarely seen on the wards but often on exams (like the priapisms associated with trazodone). It was weak, however, on general medical conditions (GMCs) which could cause psychiatric-like illnesses. The NBME shelf is about 80% psychiatry with several other questions covering neurological diseases, nonpsychatric meds, etc. I would also recommend supplementing this text with some reading on GMCs; NMS actually has a chapter devoted to GMCs which is well made. I would also do practice questions (Blueprints Q&A was better than Pretest or A&L in simulating difficulty and format) just to cement the knowledge. For your white coat, the Current Clinical Guidelines is good for writing notes, DSM guidelines, and treatment protocols. First Aid, however, is the best foundation. You can read it and have a life.

This book is a quick and easy read covering all the essential topics you will encounter during a third year medical school psychiatry clerkship. I carried this book with me under the notes on my clipboard as it contains the DSM IV criteria for psych illnesses as well as brief additional clinical/educational pearls. This is a perfect book for those who like to know the essentials in an easy to read format. I would emphasize that it is an easy read and high yield for both exams and clinical encounters. The book can easily be read in 2 days (and you will retain a lot too). However, because of its concise style, some topics are not covered.

If u think reading psychiatry is boring, then please try this book... Awesome book. Covers all the criterias needed by DSM-IV for all the disorders. Very easy to read. I loved it. Helps clearing ur concepts. No other words to describe but fantastically written. I really loved the Psychopharmacology, legal issues section. Go buy this book now. You won't regret it.

Let me begin by saying that this is probably the best review option for the psychiatry shelf/subject exam. That being said, the authors didn't have to work very hard to put this book together. They essentially summarized the DSM criteria for the various disorders, the "etiology" section is almost identical for most conditions (genetic and psychosocial/environmental factors may contribute to most conditions: surprise!), and treatment is not addressed in much detail (other than two chapters on psychotherapy and psychopharm). Given that perspective, I would have thought they could devote slightly more time to proof-reading before going to press. The inconsistencies, inaccuracies, typos, and major editing errors start on the back cover and continue throughout the book. As with all of the First Aid books, the condensed descriptions can be misleading and incorrectly characterize certain DSM criteria - usually these problems are clarified in the sidebar boxes, so read carefully. The cognitive disorders chapter is so disorganized (an understatement) that it is as if they wrote two versions of the chapter, cut them in half with scissors, and randomly spliced them together. Both delirium and dementias are addressed in two different places in the same chapter for no apparent reason. The most frustrating thing about this book is that it gives the impression that the First Aid authors don't respect the $44 that they ask us to fork over. Fortunately, Amazon's price is a bit cheaper. Either way, for that much, they could afford to hire an editor or two. I hesitate to give this book four stars, but when you're pressed for study time, it's probably the best one-stop option for shelf studying. First Aid, please show our brains and bank accounts more respect next time around!

Everyone told me that this was the book to get for the Psychiatry clerkship, and I completely agree. It's short enough to go through more than once, even during a short clerkship, but it really does contain pretty much all you need to know for the shelf. The material on normal child/adolescent development is kind of skimpy, but that is the only lapse. The style is highly readable, and the mnemonics and exam tips in the margins are great for last-minute review. You really don't need any other text.

While the majority of my classmates suffered through the tediousness of Kaplan review books, I was able to give this book a thorough reading thrice in four weeks in my spare time, leaving my evenings free to relax. The only gripe is the medications in the 2005 edition are not as up to date as one may require; regardless, made notes in the margin and still did well.

When starting a rotation, it's always a big question of which book to use whether it be a textbook, or a review title like First Aid or Blueprints. This book is perfect for the clerkship. After reading this book and blueprints psychiatry, I have no reservations in recommending this book. It is very reasonable to get through this book in a few days which leaves you plenty of time to read PreTest or go through this a few more times. It includes details that blueprints misses (however, blueprints psychiatry is a decent book as well). The clerkship directors adopted this book after noting the students' response to this and improving shelf exam scores. It also does a superb job of covering all of the psych drugs that you will see on the shelf exam and step 2.

I used a number of resources for my psychiatry clerkship, but this was certainly the most helpful, both for the clerkship itself and for the exam. It's extremely concise, yet still manages to be far more helpful, illustrative and concrete than the wordier texts. This is the only book I read that gave me a good sense of the differences between various similar-sounding diagnoses. It also contains testable information that I found nowhere else, such as the relative prognoses for the various psychotic disorders. Very high-yield and readable. You need this book.

This book is what you need for psych clerkiships or just for studying psychiatry in M1/M2 years. It's easy to read, has DSM criteria, and has treatment choices.

I'm now an intern, and my worst shelf exam was psych. It was my first one, and I hate psych, but I had read this entire book and it is just not detailed enough to handle the shelf exam. I'd recommend case files.