(Part 2) Top products from r/medicalschool

Disclaimer: Some of this advice I consider 'no duh' but I figured I'd say it just in case.

On shelf exams:

1. Yes, all of the case files/blue prints/UW/OME are good resources.
   
   
2. Emma Holiday's clerkship review videos are all excellent.
   
   
3. If you're a DO peep and have to take COMAT shelf exams, go ahead and shell out for the COMBANK exam specific question banks. Some of those questions will show up verbatim on exam day.
   
   
4. If you haven't already, download the mobile app for UWorld, Kaplan, and/or Combank. Some of my preceptors actively encouraged me to do questions while they were charting and would jump in to work through some with me when we had downtime in the clinic.
   
   On electronic devices and apps:
   
   
5. I got an iPad mini at the start of the year and loved having it but it is not at all necessary.
   
   
6. Some people recommended starting off each rotation by saying to your attending/upper level "I have electronic textbooks/apps, is it okay if I use them while I'm with you?" (so that you're not accused of texting or being on facebook 24/7) but that was honestly never an issue for me.
   
   
7. Good apps to have: MDCalc (free), ASCVD Risk Estimator (free), Nodule (free), UpToDate (some hospitals will give you an institutional log-in if your school doesn't), GoodRx (free), Epocrates (free-ish), and palmEM ($10 but a decent investment if you're an EM gunner).
   
   On boards:
   
   
8. The best time to sign up for your Step 2 CS/Level 2 PE is the second you get authorization from your school. Those spots go quick.
   
   
9. DO peeps: the NBOME has affiliate deals with hotels for reduced rates. You can find the links and info here. Yes, this whole thing is stupid expensive but you might as well take advantage of what little silver lining there is.
   
   
10. If you need disability accommodations (extra time, electronic stethoscope), start those applications NOW. There's a lot of little parts to them (I have no idea why they needed a letter from my dean but whateva) and the committee to approve those things only meets once a month (so if your application arrives after they've met for the month, you're basically going to be waiting two months to hear back from them.) Anyone who needs help with this or has questions can feel free to message me.
    
    
11. I have no idea when the best time to take the written tests are. It will depend on your individual schedule and goals.
    
    On wards:
    
    
12. You'll probably get a lot of (pocket) book recommendations. You do not need to buy every book recommended to you. The two I found useful this year were The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine and Clinician's Guide to Laboratory Medicine.
    
    
13. Pre-round on your patients. Some people like the scutsheets from medfools but I found them a little constrictive once I knew what I was doing. If you are supposed to write an H&P, SOAP note, discharge summary, etc and your school didn't teach you, google it. There are a ton of decent guides out there.
    
    
14. You are there until your attending/resident explicitly tells you to go home. Your ability to ask to leave will depend on the culture +/- your gumption.
    
    
15. NEVER LIE. If you did not see the patient, you didn't see the patient.
    
    
16. Some people will tell you to always say "I don't know but I'll look that up and get back to you!" Honestly, my residents would roll their eyes and tell us to guess.
    
    
17. If you don't know where something minor is (cups, ice machine, extra pillows, extra blankets) ask to be shown so that the next time you can get it yourself. Yes, you will absolutely be asked to fetch people coffee, return that empty bed to the floor, help someone to the bathroom, grab an extra blanket, etc. Most people tend to think more highly of those that do this without groaning.
    
    
18. If you feel like you had a good time with a preceptor and they would be a useful addition to your application, consider asking them for a letter of rec at/near the end of your rotation. You don't have to apply every letter you upload for programs to see so there's really no harm in collecting more than three (but do not ask every single persona for a letter of rec - doctors talk about students, especially the ones they find sketchy or annoying).
    
    On evaluations:
    
    
19. I know the majority of this subreddit moans about how subjective and unfair evaluations are but my one point of pride this year is that every single preceptor gave me an honors level eval.
    
    
20. Yes, I am a woman. No, I am not attractive. I'm slightly below average to fair with a moderate amount of chunkiness.
    
    
21. Do anything you can to make your resident's life easier.
    
    
22. Be polite to every nurse, tech, nurse practitioner, receptionist, and office manager. Make small talk. Yes, I know you've heard this a million times. Yes, I did bake things and bring in boxes of donuts. Yes, you can call me a suck-up. I was still blown away when one office manager said to me "We really liked having you. None of the other students talk to us."
    
    
23. Be enthusiastic. Ask questions. Even if you're not interested in that specialty, you can still ask what applying to residency was like (for young doctors) or how things have changed since they started (for old doctors).
    
    
24. This is not the year to have debates. Some of my classmates got into arguments on guns, the president, or religion; sometimes the attending respected their chutzpah and sometimes they didn't. I preferred to play it safe.
    
    
25. Keep in mind every annoying social media professionalism lecture you've ever gotten. Techs, nurses, nurse practitioners, and more all wanted to add me as a friend on Facebook. Yes, you can choose not to add them (smartest move tbh) but I gave in after getting point-blank asked "why didn't you add me?!" Facebook is for that "magical feeling of wonder and joy" when you catch a baby for the first time or the "humbling awe" you felt when you first retracted the colon. Nothing else.
    
    
26. If you are sharing a rotation with NP student or PA student, treat them like another medical student and be cordial. Don't try to pimp them. Don't get into pissing contests. Doctors are expected to be leaders; now is your chance to actually demonstrate that.
    
    
    
    In general: Third year can be frustrating because it varies so wildly. Some of you will have cush rotations where you're done at 10:30 am. Some of you will enter the hospital before the sun rises and leave when it is setting. Some of you will feel like you're shadowing again. Some of you will be treated like interns (and abused because you don't have work-hour restrictions). Some will find out the thing they thought they wanted they hate and others will find out the thing they want is beyond their reach (because of family obligations, board scores, or another thing all together). Some of you will deliver 80 babies a month and some of you won't even do a Pap smear. Every hospital has a different culture; just be polite, professional, and let yourself be immersed. You'll pick it up soon enough.
    
    TL; DR: Life is short. Be excellent to each other.
    
    EDIT: Added some stuff, found out there's a size limit on comments, made a second part.

I don't know of any "popular science" books that would actually give you a head start in medical school.
For example, Oliver Sacks' books, especially Musicophilia are broadly neurological in topic and really interesting, but reading them won't actually give you any major advantage when it comes to your studies.

However, if you're determined to get that headstart, I'd recommend reading up on either anatomy or physiology.

For anatomy, I'd recommend the Thieme Atlas of Anatomy books, although I might be biased, since one of my professors co-authored them and therefore used them religiously.
The books aren't text books in the classical sense, so there is little explanation given, but the illustrations are arguably the best I've seen so far.
You might also want to check out the google body project, although I found it severely lacking in terms of features, you can't, for example, look up innervations or muscle insertion points. Or maybe those are available once you shell out for premium content, I haven't tried that.

For physiology, I found Boron/Boulpaep's Medical Physiology to be thorough, detailed and very easy to read and understand. So this might actually be the book you're looking for. Even with limited or no prior knowledge in physiology and minimal experience with science in general, you'll be practically guaranteed to gain a deep working knowledge of physiology, which is arguably the basis for medicine in general and will serve you well throughout your studies at medical school.

If you already feel confident in both anatomy and physiology, maybe because you've done both in your undergraduate studies, I can't recommend Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine enough. Almost everything you'll ever need to know about medicine is contained in this book and it is generally pretty well written. If you'd actually have enough time in medical school to thoroughly read and digest this two-volumed beast of a textbook, med school would be less about cramming than it is today.

So maybe get a headstart on that one.

Edit: On the other hand, you might as well enjoy your time before medical school and keep the fire burning by shadowing a physician from time to time or watching the first couple of seasons of House. That'll be more fun.

I love to type during lectures, rather than writing with a pen (so slow, and printing, pens and paper are expensive!), so either a tablet with an external keyboard, or a laptop would be important for me, at least. Maybe you find you remember lecture notes more easily if you write them on paper, and some people don't like studying from a computer screen. However, internet access is important anyway, so even if you just have a basic laptop at home it will come in very useful. I use a Lenovo G510, which I really like, but that's more expensive than you need to pay.

A smartphone is also very important for me (calendar, timetable, e-mail, reminders, drug databases, etc. always available). I use a Sony Xperia S (had it for nearly 3 years, no signs of dying yet!)

First Aid for the USMLE (when it comes to it)

These two might be more useful in clinical years, but these are essential for me:

• Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Handbook-Clinical-Medicine-Medical-Handbooks/dp/0199232172)
  
• A small notepad and pen that you can easily fit in your pocket (when something new / interesting comes up). I'm using a notebook by Rhodia, but it doesn't matter what brand, really
  
  Also,
  
  You don't need to purchase a gym membership, but go for a damn jog!! I find it very easy to be completely sedentary around exams, and it's bad! Yeah. Jogging and regular bedtime (and waking up time) make me wayyy more productive. It makes it easier if you have a great breakfast in mind ;)
  
  You don't need to buy a phenomenal amount, you don't need to buy every book that's recommended or anything, but I think a laptop and a mid-range smartphone (or better) will allow you to study almost everything.

Everyone basically just goes through the lecture slides +/- random Googling and UpToDate. (Maybe looking at the odd textbook if something is suggested, but usually they're more "reference" books and not great "teaching" books.)

I really wish I had come across this sub sooner (like M1) because having recommendations like Costanzo (physiology), How the Immune System Works, as well as the usual Pathoma, B&B, etc. would have been amazing to supplement lectures that weren't so great.

In terms of what we're really missing out on though, I think the single most useful thing is probably QBanks. It's hard to walk into exams without ever having had practice questions to do before so depending on your goals (like if you want to write Step or not) UWorld / Rx / Kaplan might be something to consider.

I used Anki on and off, but it was honestly really difficult to pick out what details we'd actually be tested on based on our lecture material so it wasn't always a great use of time.

Marino’s ICU Book is great. The latest edition from Amazon comes with an Inkling copy which is convenient on the go. The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics and Critical Care are both good quick references, though they have less explanation than Marino’s.

For Anesthesia, Miller’s Anesthesia is the standard Harrison’s-style specialty text. At the medical student level a lot of places recommend “Baby Miller” aka Basics of Anesthesia. I personally preferred Morgan & Mikhail’s Clinical Anesthesiology, but both are good introductory texts. FWIW, my school had both available online so it was easy to pick and choose.

If you want to get a book (which is generally cheaper than courses), I've read this one and it is good:

http://www.amazon.com/Medical-Spanish-Fourth-Bongiovanni/dp/0071442006/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453634368&sr=1-6&keywords=medical+spanish

I also think the most important things to do are:

1. Use multiple senses - talk out loud, listed, and read
   
2. Interact with other speakers, even if you're scared
   
3. Make a schedule and stick to it
   
   You could spend only 15 min a day and still progress if you're committed. Good luck!

I have the perfect book for you my friend.

The Patient History: Evidence-Based Approach (Tierney, The Patient History)

https://www.amazon.com/Patient-History-Evidence-Based-Approach-Tierney/dp/0071624945/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465792447&sr=8-1&keywords=the+patient+history

It has flowcharts for many common presenting symptoms, including even super broad ones such as "fever" or "headache." Abnormal vaginal bleeding flowchart is on page 512, jaundice is on page 382.

Maxwell's is a must.

These clipboards are also extremely useful on the wards.

Towards the end of my third year I began to REALLY value my kindle. The 6" e-ink one fits easily in a white coat pocket. You can upload pdfs (i.e. relevant papers) and books to study from (i liked pretest).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0008G8G8Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 these are amazing with good quality tips that don't blunt after a lot of use and they don't smear when you highlight over them!

this was by far the easiest nbme of my first year.
yes, it does cover a lot of cell bio but i don't remember using anything else other than BRS and Pretest to study for it.
i had a pretty solid cell bio background though, so that may have been it. but generally speaking everyone in my class passed the shelf without problems.

Personally I've always wanted one of these: https://smile.amazon.com/Whitecoat-MedInfo-Clipboard-Medical-Black/dp/B00C2EG826/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1525306865&sr=8-3&keywords=clipboard+medical

Also a nice set of pens like https://www.amazon.com/Pilot-Retractable-Premium-Roller-Dozen/dp/B001E6D3W6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1525306908&sr=8-5&keywords=gel+pens will be clutch and they're on sale right now too!

Besides that, just lend an ear when she needs to rant after a long day. Prepare meals for her. Take her on dates. And don't get upset when she's working long days and has to come home and study. But honestly if y'all made it past M2, you're probably in the clear in terms of understanding her busy hours.

You the real MVP

I used this last year. There are other very similar ones as well. This bag was nice because it had pockets for shoes and the inner compartment was pretty big. I could fit 2 suits and a dress for the preinterview dinner in the garment part. The suits also held up, I didn’t have to iron or steam much in the hotel.

Oxford handbook of clinical specialities

And the Oxford handbook of Clinical medicine are great quick reference guides.

However the best advice given to me was know you're anatomy, and its helped so far!

Marino's ICU Book. It was recommended to me for an ICU rotation I'm doing soon (I'm interested in the field). It's really an excellent book, does a great job explaining concepts that I always had trouble with (like shunt vs. dead space, a-A gradient, etc), and they added little snippets like this to keep things interesting.

One of those foldable metal clipboards are helpful to keep everything together. I keep all my PHI on easily throw-away-able pieces of paper in the clipboard, and then a separate small notebook for notes I have on diseases, treatments, things to look up for the next day etc.

That way its just Clipboard for PHI crap, Notebook for Stuff to Learn.
What I need help with is how to organize my PHI half-sheets. Some residents have beautifully organized half sheets on their pts.. mine are always kinda scattered.

https://www.amazon.com/Whitecoat-MedInfo-Clipboard-Medical-Black/dp/B00C2EG826/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541019177&sr=8-1&keywords=foldable+clipboard+medical&dpID=61tmNneUejL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/Moleskine-Sketching-Journaling-Sketchbook-Composition/dp/8883704983/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1541019279&sr=8-11&keywords=small+cahier

I use Merrells as well, but needed a bit more support so I added Green Superfeet inserts. They definitely helped me with preventing a recurrence of plantar fasciitis during 3rd year.

Also, don't get like $10 Dr.Scholls inserts from Walmart. Superfeet insoles are the best I've ever tried, and I can move them between pairs of shoes.

P.S. Matt Bomer is awesome

Practicing will obviously work the best, maybe volunteer at a clinic more likely to have spanish patients?

I think this is the most helpful medical spanish book: http://www.amazon.com/Medical-Spanish-Fourth-Bongiovanni/dp/0071442006/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1464016441&sr=8-6&keywords=medical+spanish

That's really probably a lot to do/ask, especially before next week. Just as or more important, is to have the right resources to get them quickly. There are a few great medical calculator apps, but just about as fast is getting the "Purple Book" (formerly the green, then red, then blue book) for internal medicine and [Tarascon's Internal Medicine and Critical Care pocket books](Tarascon Internal Medicine & Critical Care Pocketbook). Between those two, I've only needed to look up extra calculators/equations for fairly obscure things.

The Purple book runs $40-60 usually, but I got my Tarascon for like $20-30 a couple years ago. For some reason it's more expensive than rent/a week of medical school/etc at about $485. No idea why.

*edit formatting

"How the Immune System Works" is a concise book that provides a great overview of immunology. It was the only immunology resource that actually made things click for me!

https://www.amazon.com/How-Immune-System-Works/dp/1118997778/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526224656&sr=8-1&keywords=how+immune+system+works

If you're not already, try and keep good sleep hygiene.
I also use one of these illuminating alarm clocks and it has helped me improve wakefulness.
The last thing I'll say is that I wouldn't assume working EM doesn't necessitate switching sleep cycles (except in residency which is probably the case with most residencies). If you're willing to go out of major metros, you can probably get good terms on your contract and work how you want to work.

I just finished this book for my IM rotation. Its a good, quick read, and hits all the points you need to impress your residents and attendings!

My mom went to the podiatrist for plantar fasciitis and he recommended going to a Shoe box store to get some in-soles. The people there recommended "superfeet green" insoles and my mom bought some alongside merrells. I tried them out as well and felt so good that I bought a pair for myself as well.

I have this one and I'm a huge fan since it has a compartment for your shoes as well.

yes they are. That's why I'm pretty desperate to find a way to lock them into my memory. Here you go. Amazon UK for your convenience.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Macleods-Clinical-Diagnosis-Alan-MBChB/dp/0702035432/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394311545&sr=8-1&keywords=macleod+clinical+diagnosis

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Patient-History-Evidence-Based-Approach/dp/0071624945/ref=sr_ob_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394311514&sr=8-1

Im not a med student (respiratory student) so I'm not sure if this is quite what you are looking for - but I bought this book during my vent class and found it to be quite useful.

This is the pen you seek; I use this and it works amazing

https://www.amazon.com/Sakura-30062-6-Piece-Pigma-Micron/dp/B0008G8G8Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1502723685&sr=8-3&keywords=pigma+micron

Buy DiVirgilio (https://www.amazon.com/Surgery-Case-Based-Clinical-Review/dp/1493917250) & a subscription to UWorld for STEP2CK. Honored surgery and I never wanted to be a surgeon.

In addition to your current studies, I recommend utilizing Netter's Flash Cards and Rohen's Atlas.

http://www.amazon.com/Netters-Anatomy-Flash-Cards-Student/dp/143771675X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376404304&sr=8-1&keywords=netter%27s+anatomy+flash+cards

http://www.amazon.com/Color-Atlas-Anatomy-Photographic-Lippincott/dp/1582558566/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376404399&sr=8-1&keywords=Rohen%27s

I use the Sakura 30062 6-Piece Pigma Micron Ink Pen which has worked well for me.

I came across it through this thread if you wanted more suggestions.

Netter's is great.

Also, as others have said, don't study, enjoy the summer.

When you ignore us, just try to limit it to going over Netter's Flashcards: http://www.amazon.com/Netters-Anatomy-Flash-Cards-Hansen/dp/143771675X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

The Ventilator Book is a solid introduction and is readily accessible to 3rd and 4th year med students.

Case Files Paediatrics: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Files-Pediatrics-Fourth-LANGE/dp/0071766987

or

Core Clinical Cases in Paediatrics: http://www.amazon.com/Core-Clinical-Cases-Paediatrics-problem-solving/dp/0340816686

may be similar to 250 Cases in clinical medicine.

Is this the one you guys refer to?

http://www.amazon.com/Surgery-Case-Based-Clinical-Review/dp/1493917250

How about a wakeup light?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F0W1RIW/ref=s9_dcacsd_bhz_bw_c_x_1&ppw=fresh

• Casefiles Pediatrics
  
• Casefiles Ob/Gyn

• Maxwell Quick Medical Reference
  
  
• WhiteCoat Clipboard
  
  
• Multiple small notebooks
  
  
• Pen light
  
  
• Cheap decoy pens for the attending who asks to borrow one and never returns it

This has been posted multiple times in different places. I'm just sticking it in my suitcase and steaming/ironing it when I arrive.

It's $39.99 only after you clip the $10 coupon - link

this is big: http://www.amazon.com/Robbins-Cotran-Pathologic-Disease-Pathology/dp/1455726133/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454033899&sr=8-1&keywords=robbins+pathologic+basis+of+disease

this is medium: http://www.amazon.com/Robbins-Basic-Pathology-STUDENT-CONSULT/dp/1437717810/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454033924&sr=8-1&keywords=basic+robbins

The "Case Files" frequently read for Shelves and Step 2 prep, are those the Lange Case Files? Thank-you.

https://www.amazon.com/Files-Internal-Medicine-Fourth-LANGE/dp/0071761721

literally, case files series.

here's IM as a preview: http://www.amazon.com/Files-Internal-Medicine-Fourth-Edition/dp/0071761721

https://www.amazon.com/Robbins-Cotran-Pathologic-Disease-Pathology/dp/1455726133

http://www.amazon.com/Robbins-Cotran-Pathologic-Disease-Pathology/dp/1455726133

Marino's ICU Book is the ICU bible

For example:
http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Histology-Cell-Biology-Self-Assessment/dp/0071623434/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422159810&sr=1-3&keywords=pre+test&pebp=1422159816632&peasin=71623434

http://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Medicine-Massachusetts-Hospital-Handbook/dp/1451193785?ie=UTF8&keywords=pocket%20medicine&qid=1463463929&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Could not recommend it more. It has been invaluable so far on my inpatient medicine rotation.

No cheese and onion?

Read ~1500 pages of ridiculously dense pathology material in two semesters while keeping up with the extra material from lecture. Then when you move onto 3rd year you can read ~4000 pages of Harrison's while doing rotations 8-12+ hours a day.

Undergrad is understanding 5-10 topics a week. Med school is understanding those same 5-10 topics in a single lecture x 8 lectures/day. Without exaggeration, we literally covered an entire semester of undergrad anatomy in our first week. Covered a year of biochem in 6 weeks at the same time with anatomy and other courses. The pace of material covered is not understandable until you get there.

btw if you still want to read textbooks, here you go:

http://www.amazon.com/Robbins-Cotran-Pathologic-Basis-Disease/dp/1416031219/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373635912&sr=8-1&keywords=robbins+pathology

http://www.amazon.com/Harrisons-Principles-Internal-Medicine-Volumes/dp/007174889X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373635885&sr=1-1&keywords=harrison%27s+principles+of+internal+medicine

I had this version and they were useless (for me) http://www.amazon.com/Netters-Anatomy-Flash-Cards-Student/dp/143771675X