First Aid for the Wards: A Student to Student Guide

best thing about it is the review of what other books to buy in the back of it. Good to read before a clerkship starts. Certaintly not even close to complete, but I felt more confident going into clerkships and the familiar format as first aid step 1.

I agree with the other reviewers that when it comes time for each rotation, you probably will end up turning to more focused review books in each specialty. On the other hand, if you are disciplined enough, this is a great quick read to do before each rotation. It'd be much harder to finish Step-up or impossible to read to Washington Guide in a weekend for internal med! The hard part is motivating yourself to sit down and work during your golden weekend! Also, I find myself frequently getting bogged down in the nitty-gritty during each rotation and forgetting to get a big picture overview. It's great to read uptodate all the time, but the shelf exams don't really care about the most recent meta-analysis on prophylactic antibiotics for pancreatitis, for example. This is a good book to give you a quick broad-picture overview and make sure you know your basics. I decided to write this review to give the book credit b/c right now I am doing an Emed rotation without having rotated in Peds. First aid for the wards is giving me just what I need - a QUICK reference on peds. I'm probably going to re-read the surgery part to review abdominal complaints. And maybe the ObGyn part too if I have time. So, yes, you will get this info in other books. But it is useful. It covers 7 specialties, so even if you don't read three of the sections, you're paying about 10 dollars per specialty. It's up to you if that's worth it. Oh yeah, other nice perks that I haven't found elsewhere are their "ward tips" sections for each specialty - it tell you the general structure, what attendings expect, etc. Also, at the end it has a database of references/books. This is similar to the back part of First aid for USMLE I. I found it useful to see what other books are out there and how they are rated.

A great idea - just a few pages dedicated to each discipline which allows for it to be read rather quickly. That book doesn't dawdle on the tiny details, but focuses on the key points needed to succeed without leaving important information. This book is a great resource for any medical student on rotations! Get it before you start your third year and keep it close until graduation. It will even be helpful as you rotate through your intern year!

I bought this book to use as a review for the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA)(the pratical texy that all the FMG have to do in Philadelphia). It was great because it helped me to practice writting clear medical hystories, in the same manner I had to write in the real (CSA) test in english. It was also very good because it list the major symptoms, signs and differential diagnosis of the more common clinnical problems. By the way, again useful for the CSA, because they request us to give the dif diagnosis in these test.I highly recomment this book as an adjunt for the preparation for the CSA. Of couse, should be useful also for the wards.Don't forget also to use: Mastering the OSCE/CSA: Objective Structured Clinical Examination/Clinical Skills Assessment...

I found this book to be quite helpful in alleviating those third year jitters. So much of the third year is spent trying to figure out your role on the team, and how to look like a star. This book gives some useful pointers.If you have liked other books from the First Aid series, this book will also be well liked and used. Well written and to the point.Each chapter gives pointers for a particular clinical rotation - explaining the role of a student as well as who the typical other team members will be. Also, gives a general breakdown of what to expect for a typical day.Each chapter then has some vital clinical information that you need to know for each rotation. The chapters end with a review of which text books are most helpful for you to read.Good book!