Ebook Info
- Published:
- Number of pages:
- Format: PDF
- File Size: 3.94 MB
- Authors: Zoë Rawles
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.
Reviews
This was only my second pocket series book, I used the pocket obstretrics and gynecology first and it was excellent. Thus, I was expecting the same from this pocket pediatrics book. Sadly, the appendix is not good at all so in a pinch on my clinicals it was useless for me to pull this out and try to find things quickly. If you have time to read it in advance and tab important, high yield subjects in advance it would be fine. However, I ended up buying the Harriet Lane Handbook and love it. If the appendix hadn’t been so bad I would have rated this book 4.5 stars as it has good info (esp. for ambulatory peds) but when you don’t have time to read/preview it before rotations start then you can skip it and go to the Harriet Lane Handbook in my opinion.
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