First Aid for the Wards: Insider Advice for the Clinical Years [Paperback]

Tao Le (Author), Vikas Bhushan (Author), Chirag Amin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0838525784 | ISBN-13: 978-0838525784 | Publication Date: October 31, 2002 | Edition: 2

Written by students for students, this high-yield guide helps them make the transition from the classroom to the hospital wards. Thoroughly revised and updated, this comprehensive book explains what to expect in each required rotation and provides sample notes & reports, medical facts, formulas, and protocols. Features the latest student ratings of available review resources.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In my opinion, the most important feature of this book is the "inside" information that is included in each chapter. The helpful information ranges from short cuts for reading EKGs and test results evaluation to secrets for successfully taking a history and developing a rapport with patients and staff. The book successfully displays the information in a such a way that addresses the various learning styles of medical students. There are A to Z mnemonics in every chapter accompanied by concise tables and relevant illustrations. In addition, because medicine is a constantly changing field, there are helpful sections labeled "Current Med Talk" that alert the student to current treatment changes, terminology, or conditions that may not yet be published. Finally, at the end of each chapter there are lists of relevant references with evaluation reviews that are helpful for identifying the best reference sources for supplemental information." "I was very impressed with the volume of relevant information in this book. It addressed some of the most important fears and concerns that I have moving into my clinical clerkship years. It is great for quick reference and summarizes the conditions most frequently encountered on the wards. The chapters are all set up in the same format so it makes things easy to find and easy to understand. I am a very visual learner so the illustrations and the CT, MRI and X-rays were very helpful in retaining the information as it was presented. I think that the publication of a second edition of this book was necessary seeing that the practice of medicine changes so rapidly. This book will be very helpful for any third or fourth year intending to succeed and excel during their clinical years. " "4 Stars!" (Doody's )

From the Back Cover

A STUDENT TO STUDENT GUIDE FOR THE CLINICAL YEARS

*“This is a “must have” book for every medical student preparing to enter the junior year . . . contains many of the “pearls” which become obvious after learning them “the hard way” in the crucible of the wards. This text should be issued to every medical student entering the clinical years on orientation day.” Lawrence Brotherton, University of Kansas SOM (on the previous edition)

THERE’S NO BETTER ORIENTATION TO THE HOSPITAL ENVIRONMENT, THE WARDS TEAM, AND DAILY WARDS ACTIVITIES THAN FIRST AID FOR THE WARDS.

*Tips for wards survival and handling difficult situations
*Advice on how to give oral patient presentations
*How to excel on each core rotation, including medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, and psychiatry
*High-yield facts on the diagnosis and treatment of commonly encountered diseases
*Updated guide to commonly used clinical handbooks, reference books, reviews, and texts
*Expanded “how to” guides for common procedures
*Sample H&P notes, daily progress notes, procedure notes, post-op notes, labor and delivery notes, and admission orders (20020131)

Product Details

• Paperback: 492 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Appleton & Lange; 2 edition (October 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0838525784
• ISBN-13: 978-0838525784
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent intro for clinical years, May 5, 2005

By 

MISHMANKA (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Aid for the Wards: Insider Advice for the Clinical Years (Paperback)

What I liked best about this book was the sample SOAP/Admit/Orders that they give, plus all the crazy acronyms that they expect you to know. I found it really made me look like a superstar because I would write a "sample note" on an index card and carry it in my white coat. So when it came time for me to write notes, I didn't miss much. Every clerkship has their expectations for note writing and this book is so helpful especially in your 3rd year when you know zippo about how to write good notes. Highly recommended. Plus it gives you a brief synopsis of what each clerkship is about, and for the most part, it is pretty right on.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One clerkship director's thoughts, January 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: First Aid for the Wards: Insider Advice for the Clinical Years (Paperback)

Bhushan and Le have created a guide that is most useful as an introduction to the ward experience for medical students. They discuss particulars about each rotation and this information is certainly important for students to read before each rotation. Although I do recommend this book to my students, I also encourage them to use another book entitled the 101 Biggest Mistakes 3rd Year Medical Students Make and How to Avoid Them. This latter book is the only book I know of that helps students recognize the major mistakes that are made during clinical clerkships. By using First Aid for the Wards and 101 Biggest Mistakes 3rd Year Medical Students Make and How to Avoid Them together, students will place themselves in a position to do their best work during their clinical clerkships.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars immensely helpful, May 4, 2006

By 

surgworm - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Aid for the Wards: Insider Advice for the Clinical Years (Paperback)

The best part of this book is the reviews of other books. For each clerkship, a review of books in the categories of textbook, review size book and pocket size books is given. Definitely use their reviews as a guide to the immense amount of shelf and board review material available. The rest of this book consists mostly of description of different clerkships which may be more or less applicable to those at your home institution. I would suggest a quick skim of those areas. If you have this in your medical bookstore or library you may just want to skim the section about the clerkships shortly before it begins and use the review of books to chose reading material.