First Aid for the Wards, Fifth Edition (First Aid Series)

This book is the first purchase I recommend for medical students about to start their third year, and is one of the most helpful resources for clerkships.The book is broken down as follows:The first 50 pages begin with an overview of what third year is like and lots of basic information that you are never really taught, but feel foolish for asking (e.g. what is the difference between a chief resident and an intern? What do the various hospital staff do?). It also has survival tips, sample H&P/SOAP notes, admit orders, oral presentation advice, and scheduling recommendations. It then has a short section of high-yield info that is useful for every clerkship (e.g. fluid replacement, overview of common hospital antibiotics and their uses, etc). This section is best to read BEFORE starting third year.The next 400 pages are broken down into chapters by clerkship, with each being roughly 50 pages (except IMED which is around 75). Every chapter begins with a basic overview of the rotation, what your typical schedule looks like (freakishly accurate), your responsibilities on that rotation, tips specific for that rotation, sample progress notes, and my favorite: "what to keep in your pockets". This is followed by a high-yield review of the most important topics for that clerkship, sort of like a mini First Aid. This includes tons of full-color pictures and the high-yield diagrams you expect from a First Aid book. At the end of each chapter is a list of additional high-yield topics that you should study on your own. The idea is that you read each chapter before you start that rotation, but I found that it usually took me most of the first week to finish a chapter.The last 50 pages include 2 very helpful appendices: the first one consists of descriptions & reviews of all the best references, textbooks, review books, practice tests, pocket guides, etc for each clerkship/shelf as well as for Step 2. The second index consists of hundreds of common medical abbreviations and what they stand for.As for the 5th edition specifically, I highly recommend it over the 4th. It has been totally updated and is now full-color, better organized, all the information has been updated, some new high-yield topics have been added and low-yield ones were dropped. The review section in particular has been revamped to include iPhone/Android apps instead of PalmPilot/PocketPC apps. The book is also somehow MUCH thinner and lighter, despite being only 30 pages shorter. The outside of the book has also been covered with some kind of tough, transparent coating that is waterproof and tear-resistant... I'm surprised this isn't even advertised, as it's pretty awesome for a book that you will use all year. I think all review books should do this.

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE book to read fully before core rotations. This should be a required book for every third year medical student (totally agree). This book provides a great introduction to each core rotation, logistics, dynamic, description of a typical, etc. Basically the beginning part of every chapter provides you with very helpful tips about the most common things you will experience during every core rotation (except family medicine :-\). In addition, you will find for every service, helpful sample Notes, what to have in your pocket (so accurate!), common procedures (so you can read on them!), a list of high-yield topics (most of them covered in this book), AND a list of common clerkship topics at the end of every chapter. So you'll know exactly what topics need to be covered in detail throughout the rotation in order to shine in front of your attending and resident AND successfully pass the shelf. Of course, you will study all the topics from the list using a more comprehensive source. This book indeed provides a GREAT quick concise review of high-yield topics/pathology commonly seen in each rotation. If you read each chapter before the start day of your rotation, you will totally have a pretty good idea how to 1) answer questions correctly, 2) perform new admissions efficiently, 3) write H&Ps and focused SOAP notes, and 4) provide impressive case presentations, ALL during the typical confusing/ackward first week of every rotation. I HIGHLY recommend this book. You must start reading about 3 days before the start of each rotation and continue reading throughout the first FEW days of the first week, that's it. It shouldn't take more than that. Then start using Case Files, Blueprints, or First Aid for each clerkship after that, the more comprehensive sources. I wish I knew about this book earlier, so helpful!

I bought this book in the beginning of third year and I really like it. I read it during the beginning of my rotation to get an idea of what I am expected to know and what I will see and do in that rotation. It is not complete, it's only good as an overview. I really like the back of the book, because just as the Fist Aid for Step 1, it gives you the top resources rated by students for each rotation. You should definitely buy this book.

I'm now 3 rotations into my third year and I'm loving this book. I think it's an excellent resource if you're using it for the purpose of being a primer for your rotation. For me, I've been finishing the chapter on a given rotation during the first week of that rotation (~60 pages), which gives me a good summary of the specific logistics of the different rotations as well as a light-medium depth overview of the major clinical topics pertaining to that rotation (signs/symptoms/workups/treatments etc)As other reviewers have noted, the beginning of the book has some overall tips for rotations and then goes into a chapter for every rotation. Each chapter starts off with what to expect for the rotation or what it makes it different from other rotations (for example, the peds chapter has a section on tips for examining children). The chapters then go into the actual "medicine" of each rotation and gives overviews of the most common diseases etc found in that population of patients.Obviously, this book alone will not help you ace your shelf, and definitely not step 2, and neither of these is the reason this book exists. But I think if you use it as a primer/first pass of the info during the first week of each rotation, you won't be so clueless in front of the attendings during those first days.