UTHSC Clerkship Advice
2012
3rd Year advice (highly subjective due to differing personal experiences)
General info: I would recommend scheduling clerkships based on what
you want to do, ie. if you know you don't want to ob-gyn do it first so you
don't have to look forward to this the rest of the year. Neuro/psych are
considered easier rotations and lots of folks schedule them for times when
they want downtime. You get a week for thanksgiving in middle of
clerkships so some use that for medicine and surgery studying time, I just
took the week off since I was on psychiatry. Other than personal
preference and the time commitments I stated earlier it doesn't really
matter a lot when you take the clerkships in the long run. Lots of students
say to take Medicine before Surgery (since surgery shelf has lots of
medicine on it)—I took surgery after medicine so I can’t comment but they
are probably correct. Try to save your option blocks for interviews, CK
studying time and 4th year if possible.
Internal Medicine (2 months): Good overall rotation, you get to learn a
lot, I would not recommend doing this first as it has a hard shelf exam that
is pretty broad in knowledge that you might not be up on yet (def. a big diff
in first clerkship knowledge to last clerkship knowledge if you know what I
mean). I did it during August/September. StepUptoMedicine, Uworld for
step 2, and MKSAP are best resources. I requested the Med and VA.
Methodist supposedly is better for learning but work longer hours.
UsmleWorld Step 2 CK:
http://www.usmleworld.com/step2ck/step2ck.aspx
(do all 1400 medicine questions before taking the shelf)
Books:
http://www.amazon.com/Step-Up-Medicine-Series-StevenAgabegi/dp/0781771536
http://www.amazon.com/MKSAP-For-Students-MksapAlguire/dp/1934465038/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335718120&
sr=1-2
UTHSC Clerkship Advice
2012
Ob-Gyn (2 months): I did this rotation first, pretty concise topic and
relatively easy to study for. Not the best overall rotation according to most
students due to the atmosphere, was alright for me though. Gyn-Onc is
the best portion of it. Try to schedule Gyn 2nd and Ob first as you will
have more time closer to the shelf to study. Uwise questions, Blueprints,
Case files are all good resources.
Uwise:
http://www.apgo.org/student/uwise.html
Books:
http://www.amazon.com/Blueprints-Obstetrics-GynecologySeries/dp/1405103310
http://www.amazon.com/Files-Obstetrics-Gynecology-ThirdEdition/dp/0071605800
Neurology (1 month): Not a NBME shelf, study Dr. Wahba's reviews. If
you want to learn request Methodist. If you want an easy rotation with light
hours request Med.
Books: None required to get an A. Read case files or use Blueprints to
study for extra credit exams if you want.
Psychiatry (1 month): Request St. Francis if possible. Free food and I
was getting out every day around 11am. Study Appleton and Lange
questions, and First Aid for psychiatry. Do the UWorld q’s on psych also.
Books:
http://www.amazon.com/Appleton-Lange-Review-PsychiatryOransky/dp/0071402535/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335718235
&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.com/First-Psychiatry-Clerkship-EditionSeries/dp/0071739238/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335718257&
sr=1-1
UTHSC Clerkship Advice
2012
Family Medicine (2 months): I had Dr. Warren which requires tons of
hours and work time but is a great learning experience. Jackson does not
require that much and you get a day off travel time, I was working
weekends and had hardly any time off. I did this relatively early which was
helpful in learning how to manage hospital and ambulatory patients. Use
AAFP questions, Swanson's, and PreTest, read StepUptoMedicine
ambulatory section for a text.
AAFP:
http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/cme/boardrev/questions.html
Books:
http://www.amazon.com/Medicine-PreTest-Self-Assessment-EditionClinical/dp/007159888X
http://www.amazon.com/Swansons-Family-Practice-ReviewAlfred/dp/032300914X
(massive—not necessary to honor the course…only if you really have
extra time)
SU2M (same link as the book on the medicine clerkship above)
Surgery (2 months): I had Dr. Behrman at Baptist, I got along well with
him but a lot of students don't, you have to have a thick skin. He actually
let me do 2 weeks of neurosurgery while I was there since I was
interested. I've heard really good things about Dr. King at St Francis. I
would also recommend Dr. Garrett for cardiothoracic surgery as you do
lots of the vein harvesting and get good at closing. Study Pestana audio,
UWorld, Surgical Recall for cases only (not for shelf), PreTest, I did the
Appleton questions also (which I don’t think were that great but decent).
UsmleWorld Step 2 CK:
http://www.usmleworld.com/step2ck/step2ck.aspx
(do all 200 surgery questions 2x before taking the shelf)
Books:
Surgical Recall:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451176414/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?
pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0683301020&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_
r=1PKVQEYVV9DYTXTDPM4G
PreTest:
UTHSC Clerkship Advice
2012
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071761217/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?
pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0071457704&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_
r=0BDFBBWDF3D9FNYBSD4X
Appleton:
http://www.amazon.com/Appleton-Lange-Review-SurgeryWapnick/dp/0071378146
Pediatrics (2 months): I did this rotation in Chattanooga, which was great.
Good faculty to student ratio. Make sure to do World q’s before taking the
CLIPP exams (you will have one during the 3rd week and 6th week which
accounts for 10% of your grade). Do inpatient first if you can so you have
more time to study before the shelf. Use UWorld q’s, Appleton Q’s, Pretest
and Case files and Kaplan Step 2 CK Qbook for this rotation.
Kaplan Qbook:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002AKPC9C/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2
?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1419551507&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_
r=1FW9W72M5ND7E38ZW0QH
Appleton:
http://www.amazon.com/Appleton-Lange-ReviewPediatrics/dp/B002IKLNQU/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=13357188
35&sr=1-2
CaseFiles:
http://www.amazon.com/Files-Pediatrics-Third-EditionLANGE/dp/0071598677/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335718851
&sr=1-1
PreTest:
http://www.amazon.com/Pediatrics-PreTest-Self-Assessment-ClinicalMedicine/dp/0071597905/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=133571886
7&sr=1-1
UsmleWorld Step 2 CK:
http://www.usmleworld.com/step2ck/step2ck.aspx