First Aid for the USMLE Step 2 CS, Fourth Edition Author: Tao Le | Language: English | ISBN:
0071760504 | Format: PDF
First Aid for the USMLE Step 2 CS, Fourth Edition Description
Trust the #1 selling USMLE Step 2 CS review book for the most thorough, score-boosting exam preparation possible!
A Doody's Core Title for 2011!
The best USMLE Step 2 CS review got just got even better! The third edition of First Aid for the USMLE Step 2 CS has been updated based on feedback from US and international medical student test takers. This student-to-student guide thoroughly prepares you for frequently tested cases, including telephone exams, to ensure CS success.
- 40 full-length practice cases that simulate the real exam – including all new pediatric and telephone interviews as well as suggested closing statements for each case
- A revised and expanded set of minicases representing common complaints designed to help you rapidly develop a set of differential diagnoses
- Time management advice to maximize your clinical encounters
- Step-by-step strategies for interacting with standardized patients, including “difficult patients”
- Detailed descriptions of high-yield physical exam maneuvers that will win you points without costing time
- Proven study and exam strategies from students who passed
- Series: First Aid USMLE
- Paperback: 459 pages
- Publisher: McGraw-Hill Medical; 4 edition (February 16, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0071760504
- ISBN-13: 978-0071760508
- Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Overall I was dissappointed with this book. The material in each case was a good review of differentials and diagnostic modalities but the layout of the cases made no sense to me. It would have been perfect if I had a friend who was a standardized patient who could act out each scenario because it started each case with an SP checklist that gave away things like "Act like you are in pain when the examinee presses on your right, upper abdomen." Trying to use this to study from, I felt like it was giving away things before I had even gotten to the history. I wish they would reorganize the cases so that the information is presented like you would receive it in a patient encounter....chief complaint, then HPI, PMH, etc.....then physical exam findings....then the write up and tests ordered for the case.
Another big problem I had with the book was that the exam now requires you to justify each entry on your differential diagnosis with information from your history and physical exam. Using this book to prepare didn't really help me prepare for this part...the book simply focuses on which items should be on a differential and which tests to order. I felt like I was a little burned by this on test day because my justifications for some of the differential items was really weak.
Finally, a word on the cases themselves....the cases in the book were vastly misleading from what I got on exam day. Those in the book are deliberately vague and present symptoms that easily lead you to many items on your differential. For example, a case in the book might have a woman with dyspareunia who has had prior surgery but also suggests cyclical pain, but also has a history of being assaulted. So you could easily come up with several things: adhesions, endometriosis, anxiety, etc.
I purchased the digital copy of the First Aid Step 2 CS. I took the exam 2 days ago and I think this book has done a good job preparing me for the exam. Note that the format of the exam has changed a little, but as far as helping students with what questions to ask during the patient interview and coming up with diagnosis, this book does deliver.
The digital copy of this book has some serious short comings. The book has tables for questions to ask during the patient interview and lists of differential diagnoses. These tables are not texts but images that you can't resize. The resolutions for some of these tables are TERRIBLE. I'm viewing the book on PC and there's no way to zoom in or out to view the tables. Some of these tables are so small that the words are almost illegible. Some of the tables look like they are screen shots of the original PDF First Aid used to publish the book because there's excess white left on the periphery of the image.
In sum, if you intend to view this on your desktop (I can't say for the Mac's because I have PC), I strongly encourage you not to purchase this as digital copy. The texts in the tables are the more IMPORTANT information of this book.
Amazon, if you are reading this, open this on a PC using the Kindle for PC and flip to 3825/9644 and tell me why the text in the table are pixelated compared to the next page? Also what's up with the sample "Patient Note" having different image resolution for every case? Some take up whole page, some shrunken to ? or their original size (4547/9644)? I got more examples: location 2230, 5464, 6522 (the table for CAGE question looks like you guys took a screen shot of the original PDF and then did a sloppy job trimming the white), 6564, 6670, 7669, 7890...
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