itimebomb2 Posted November 9, 2010 Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 How does TN compare to some other comprehensive review books? Would anyone care to suggest a different book? Or is TN the one I should buy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebouque Posted November 9, 2010 Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 There are some very good american review books, but TN is canadian, so all your units will be SI which is a huge advantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted November 9, 2010 Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 How do you plan to use the book? I bought TO notes late in medical school, so did not end up using it as much as others who had annotated through preclerkship. Class review notes sufficed for the most part, supplemented by any medical school review book (including those from the US and UK) for reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itimebomb2 Posted November 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 I want something for quick reference, as well as a study guide for clerkship? How do other people use TN? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dashley Posted November 9, 2010 Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 Has anyone had a sneak peak at Edmonton Manual - I hear it may be a little better than TN for Alberta schools but I am curious to hear some input... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted November 9, 2010 Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 Edmonton Manual appears to be aimed towards an approach to OSCE examinations, rather than serving as a reference book. If you're looking for a quick reference, check out what your library offers in the way of downloads for PDA, if you have one. The CCS series of little books make succinct references. They are also available in pdf formats (which are easily found). http://www.medical-library.org/ccs/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardiomegaly Posted November 9, 2010 Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 Edmonton Manual assumes you already know the specifics of disease and focuses on history and physical exam. Calgary has the black book - I think it's kind of a differential diagnosis reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanMaverick Posted November 9, 2010 Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 Almost everybody at UBC-NMP seems to be using a red "Pocket Medicine". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renin Posted November 10, 2010 Report Share Posted November 10, 2010 Almost everybody at UBC-NMP seems to be using a red "Pocket Medicine". The new Sabatine is Green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanMaverick Posted November 10, 2010 Report Share Posted November 10, 2010 The new Sabatine is Green. I guess they're too poor to upgrade to the new edition. Maybe that's why they keep recommending Theophylline and pre-cordial thumps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted November 11, 2010 Report Share Posted November 11, 2010 T.N. is awesome. Full stop. If you disagree I will stab you in the jaw. Pocket medicine is also quite good. Not so much as a comprehensive reference, but something to have in your pocket when on rounds or in the ER. There is enough info in there (with references about % improvements etc.) that you can bang out a pretty good investigation and treatment plan no sweat. If you need to learn the nitty gritty of a disease, then you should be reading something more comprehensive (like Harrison's or something). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted November 11, 2010 Report Share Posted November 11, 2010 Second the Approach to Internal Medicine book by Hui - it's Canadian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estairella Posted November 11, 2010 Report Share Posted November 11, 2010 The Sabatine sucks. You'd get a better overview of gastroenterology if you read the TP you wiped your butt with. Go the Hui book. It's in SI units, and its well written and organized. Plus, the print isn't microscopically small! Different people/hospital/programs prefer different books. Trust me, if everyone in your team was using Pocket Medicine, and you had to be different and make different recommendations from everyone else, it won't help your evals. So obvious answer: get both, use whichever one the others are using. When you're a resident or attending, it won't matter. Hopefully by then, you won't be using either anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted November 11, 2010 Report Share Posted November 11, 2010 It doesn't really matter what you use. The important thing is to actually use whatever you have. As for having recommendations that aren't aligned with the rest of the people on the team, if you can back up what you are recommending then you will not be faulted for it. What gets people in trouble is when the blindly recommend tests and treatments without understand the test/treatment and why is it being used. Classic example: PSA. WORST used test ever. Way to many people just order it like candy without realizing it's not to be used for patients over 70 or with a <10 yr life expectancy. On top of that they order it on patients with prostatitis and then freak out when the PSA is coming back at 150. Or they order a single value, it comes back "elevated" yet they never repeat the test or do a DRE before referring to a specialist. There are dozens of other tests that are similar. So summary: Know what and why you are ordering something. You look stupid if you recommend something but have no idea why you did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renin Posted November 11, 2010 Report Share Posted November 11, 2010 I guess they're too poor to upgrade to the new edition. Maybe that's why they keep recommending Theophylline and pre-cordial thumps. The blue edition features blood letting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviathan Posted November 11, 2010 Report Share Posted November 11, 2010 The blue edition features blood letting. Works for hemochromatosis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renin Posted November 11, 2010 Report Share Posted November 11, 2010 Works for hemochromatosis. Polycythemia vera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxime Posted November 12, 2010 Report Share Posted November 12, 2010 Toronto notes is worth nothing unless you're studying for the LMCC, and even then... It's not useful in first year meds, or second year, or third of fourth year, it's way too superficial, has tons of errors... Open up real books to study the fundamentals of the different organ systems, it will serve you forever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mei_Mei_girl Posted November 12, 2010 Report Share Posted November 12, 2010 Toronto notes is worth nothing unless you're studying for the LMCC, and even then... It's not useful in first year meds, or second year, or third of fourth year, it's way too superficial, has tons of errors... Open up real books to study the fundamentals of the different organ systems, it will serve you forever I beg to differ - although TN aren't extremely detailed (yes "superficial") it is a great resource if you are looking for a quick refresher that is summed up quickly with the key points. That can be a huge benefit instead of shifting through great details (if all you want is a quick recap). However, in terms of learning material in great detail I agree with you fundamental books are better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviathan Posted November 12, 2010 Report Share Posted November 12, 2010 Back the truck up! You're in first year Mac med? Forget the review books - you can't review anything yet because you don't know anything yet! Read Guyton and Hall, Robbins, Lippincott Pharm and microbio, and Gray's. Welcome to medicine. Agreed to some extent, BUT, the best way to use a review book like TN or First Aid is to start using it from day one. Read through all of the above (Lippincott pharm is pretty superficial too, btw, I would go with Katzung), and then make notes from those books + lecture notes into your Toronto Notes and get familiar with the entire book. By the time review comes in your 4th year or whenever, you will be really familiar with the book and it will be 10x better as a review book than if you were to buy it a month before your LMCCs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennethToronto Posted November 13, 2010 Report Share Posted November 13, 2010 TN is fantastic. Cecils is good too. UptoDate is also good. And this has nothing to do with the fact I go to UofT. However, I will agree that TN isn't that useful in 1st or 2nd year. Once you have a base though, it's fantastic. Forget the other books. Most of them are too long-winded and low-impact. Worse, you'll finish reading them and then you'll realize that they were so long-winded and meandering, that you got absolutely nothing from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted November 13, 2010 Report Share Posted November 13, 2010 I disliked Cecil's. Even the essentials version. I found it to be long winded and way to heavy on things like patho-physiology while at the same time completely glancing over tests and treatments. It's a good book if you want to learn the in depth of HOW the disease works, but it's terrible if you want to learn how to diagnose and treat the disease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurfette Posted November 20, 2010 Report Share Posted November 20, 2010 I beg to differ as well. Toronto Notes is definitely not the be-all or end-all, but it has it's uses. For rotations/courses where I really wanted to put every ounce of energy into (eg. internal medicine, anatomy), I got specific textbooks (eg. Gray's/Grants/Rohen, Cecil's, etc.), but it's a good overview for other areas, especially the more specialized and smaller rotations where you clearly can't put that much energy into unless you're planning to specialize in those areas. Also, it's a good little review to look over in the day before starting a rotation, so that you don't look like a complete tool when you start. Oh, I realized that I was kinda being specific to clerkship. I don't think Toronto Notes is the best resource for preclerkship. Study from textbooks and from class notes and online resources (eg. uptodate). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanMaverick Posted November 20, 2010 Report Share Posted November 20, 2010 Agreed to some extent, BUT, the best way to use a review book like TN or First Aid is to start using it from day one. Read through all of the above (Lippincott pharm is pretty superficial too, btw, I would go with Katzung), and then make notes from those books + lecture notes into your Toronto Notes and get familiar with the entire book. By the time review comes in your 4th year or whenever, you will be really familiar with the book and it will be 10x better as a review book than if you were to buy it a month before your LMCCs. I'm a pharmacist and Katzung is one of our favourite resources as well - certainly one I'd reccomend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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