Pocket Medicine: The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine 5th Edition (2013) (Epub) by Marc S. Sabatine

Description

I have been using Pocket Medicine since being a wee little OMS-3. I can tell you that this thing has been the most amazing reference book in my life. I’ve seen them all (Washington Manual, UCSF’s hospitalist handbook, the ICU book, etc). I’ll be honest, being an attending, I’ve been using uptodate more now than this book but as a medical student/resident, this book is amazing. What makes this book such an amazing reference is that they actually write down the article/journal that they are referencing to if you wish to expand your knowledge base with the original research.

I’ve known the details of this series for many years. See my older reviews on Pocket Medicine to see what I think about the series. Again, for the newcomers, welcome to medicine and if you’re looking for a reference book, this shall be your bible. The style is that same Pocket Medicine style with lots of abbreviations, and references. If you are having trouble figuring out what that abbreviation is in the book, check the back of the book. If you can get a copy off your colleague, I recommend taking a look first before jumping the gun and buying it without looking at how this is written. I’ve seen people be put off by the style and so I recommend doing this first if you’re completely unfamiliar with the series. Before, I would be searching things very fast on this book. But given the speed of the uptodate app on my phone, I’ll admit I haven’t been using this little buddy as much. The pocket book fits in any white coat.

Now I will present changes/differences:
New sections (not all inclusive): Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices, Toxicology, Lung Transplant, Dysmotility and Nutrition, Disorders of Colon, Intestinal Ischemia. Some of these were renamed sections. I haven’t used the book enough to tell you if these changes make a difference if you’re thinking about upgrading from purple.

New references: qSOFA for sepsis, cardiac risk assessment tables has been slightly simplified (although the basics are the same), JNC 8 is in the book. The controversial lipid guidelines from AHA are in the book now. Ophthalmic issues section has been changed a lot (I liked the purple version better but maybe its because I’m just used to it).

Dislikes: the book I bought uses a more similar flimsy paper as in the purple version. I miss the paper they used in green. But what I was really MAD about is that the publisher didn’t do a good job at screening the hole punches and it was hole punched slightly off and now the first couple pages have already ripped out. I’m very unhappy about this but I did not subtract a star as the rating is about the content.

Bottomline: it’s the same old pocket medicine you love and see your colleagues use. Is it worth upgrading? absolutely not. Will I stop buying future issues? I’m thinking this may be the last one I upgrade as I probably use uptodate more often now as an attending but I can appreciate all of the information that is needed to update this little book. Again, borrow one to see if you like the style before buying this.

Again, like all of my previous reviews: I didn’t get paid by Dr Sabatine or Wolters Kluwer for this review.
Also a moment of silence for my purple version. RIP my battered and time tested purple version, RIP.

User’s Reviews

I’m about to start my 3rd year, and bought this after hearing that it is one of the few absolute must-haves for the wards. I was a little weary about getting this from Amazon due to all of the reviews about it being of poor quality. However, I don’t see any of the problems that others have written about. I’m not sure if they addressed the issues or if I just got lucky but I’m very happy with it. The binder seems strong, and the pages fit nicely inside of it, without hanging out at all. The pages are somewhat thin, but they’re not overly flimsy or delicate. I’d prefer them to be thin anyway, though to keep the book as small as possible. The words aren’t so tiny that it’s difficult for me to read, but I can see why more experienced (i.e. older) doctors may have some trouble. Also, after a thorough look through the pages, there were none missing or misprinted.

Extremely helpful for my medicine clerkship, and will likely be helpful on sub-i. Nevertheless, I’m not sure it will be worth its weight as an intern. It’s somewhat difficult to reference compared to digital resources, and you need to half-remember what you’re looking up just to understand all of the abbreviations. Would highly recommend including a digital app that is less abbreviated. Personally, I may try to keep using it, but may end up relying on Washington Manual, Epocrates, and Sanford guide apps as an intern instead.

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