PBL Tips

[Guest bluesky125]

Hi,

 

U of T first year med class has started their PBL classes last week. I am wondering what are some tips for finding information for PBL? Any good websites or resources that are especially relevant?

 

Thanks!

[Guest UWOMED2005]

MD Skolar is good (don't remember the address, there's a link from the UWO homepage.) So is http://www.uptodate.com. And of course there's always Pubmed for academic articles.

 

Then again, I'd say by far the most common source for information for 80% of my classmates is http://www.google.com. . . not exactly scholarly, but most of the resources are good and it saves time.

[Guest therealcrackers]

To go more scholarly----winks at Jeff---- try PubMed for research articles (pubmed.gov), try http://www.mymorningjournal.com for the latest (usually abstracts) from general and specific biomedical journals. Also general texts like the Merck manual, Harrison's, Cecil's, Nelson's if it's paeds will be good. For the more social aspects of it --- try the newspaper or magazine websites (or in antiquated print form, too!)--- also some of the epidemiological stuff can be found at http://www.ices.on.ca --- especially for the new diabetes atlas chapters just published on Wednesday. You can try the WHO sites for global issues, CDC for outbreaks, USAMRIID for the same with a twist of paranoia and a splash of bioterrorism. Hope that's a good place to start.

[Guest strider2004]

http://www.mdconsult.com

 

It's magic.

[Guest medicator007]

I gotta go with UWOMED2005 on this one... thus far http://www.google.com has been my most useful reference tool for our small group sessions. I have used MDConsult, Up-to-Date and Pubmed, not bad for a big research paper but definately overkill for most PBL that i have encountered thus far.

 

I also like to use the Merck as a good primer for the topic at hand....http://www.merck.com

 

Medicator

[Guest Ian Wong]

Google works well. For basic science stuff, I still prefer textbooks, and will go on-line mainly for current treatments, journals, etc. On-line there's also neat things to be found like auscultation websites with recorded cardiac and respiratory sounds, EKG tutorials, etc.

 

There are some useful on-line links in the below forums:

pub125.ezboard.com/fpremed101frm23

pub125.ezboard.com/fpremed101frm24

 

I think the Toronto Notes (the big ol' textbook compiled by U of T med school) is great for a quick primer or review of something. It isn't detailed enough to teach you everything you need to know, but it does a pretty good job of getting you the basics in point form. I got into the habit of hacking out each week's information out of the Toronto Notes, and bringing it to tutorial.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 4

[Guest Sil]

I also like http://WWW.webmd.com. It has articles on most of the diseases the lab values, prognosis, treatment, etc.

[Guest Da Birdie]

I agree with Strider2004

http://www.mdconsult.com IS magic

(well, I'd say it's just about THE standard research tool in Queen's meds)

 

the collection of searchable, full-text online textbooks covering virtually all aspects of medicine has saved my sorry G-max during the last-minute cramming for impending PBLs / small group discussions, numerous times.

 

...but perhaps the other sites suggested in above posts also do a similar or even better job...just try them all out i guess

 

da birdie

Queens Meds2006

[Guest ManitobaMed]

For general information, I'm pretty fond of Harrison's (available online through NETDOC) and http://www.emedicine.com. Both tend to give details without going overboard. The advantage to emedicine is that it often provides a differential/tests/treatment/prevalence/etc. for a given condition. For paeds, Nelson's is great (also online through MDConsult). Cecil's is excellent or craptastic depending on the prevalence of the condition. (For example, one of our problems included researching both MI and esophageal rupture. MI was covered in significant depth, while esophageal rupture was mentioned in passing in one sentence.)

 

For up-to-date research, meta-analyses and reviews on PubMed are great. The Cochrane EBM stuff isn't bad, either.

 

For web searches, as others have said, definitely use Google. This tends to be most useful for psychosocial stuff. (e.g. You can look for the availability of support services/general info for the public.)

[Guest cheech10]

Merck manual for a quick overview, and then a bigger text for more info (Harrison's, Cecil's, whatever works). At UofT, we're just doing cardiac cases for PBL this month, and I've found Lilly has pretty much anything you need.

[Guest Ian Wong]

Floating back to the top.

 

Ian