Best all around reference?

[crh3f]

Hey all...I'm a second year med student, getting ready to head into my 3rd year (thank GOD). I'm looking for a good, all around reference to look up diagnoses/diseases/etc. I've tried Cecil's, and it's often lacking. Haven't tried 5MCC. Was thinking about "The Clinical Medicine Consult" from Primary Pacific Care for iSilo (it supposedly has chapters for the majority of subject areas...ie derm, neuro, ob/gyn, etc) or maybe Pepid.

Let me give you an example of the limitations I've run into with both Cecil's and the Washington Manual. I tried to look up Malassezia furfor, and couldn't find much info in either. Wash is good for things like renal, cardio, pulmonary. Cecil's is good for a VERY brief overview. Neither really goes into detail on anything like derm, orthopedics, peds, infectious disease, ect.

What does everyone think? What do you use, and taking into account my level of education and what I'll be doing over the next year or so, what would be my best option?

[crh3f]

anybody...? anybody...? bueller?....bueller...?

[holmesness]

i'm a fan of the clinical medicine consult, though i must tell you nothing on your test subject there either. overall it's pretty detailed and comprehensive, but it's still not like having the real thick harrisons or cecils in your pda. i've been pretty impressed with CMC though and now hardly use the 5MCC. I tried out Pepid and while it's not bad, I prefer the CMC. And at the end of a year I don't lose it like I think you do with Pepid. And in the 9 months I've had it has been updated twice; emails were sent to me to inform me they were available.

there are trial versions of both pepid and clinical medicine consult available; try 'em out and see what you think.

[crh3f]

thanks...

[GoCats]

I'm a 3rd year student, and use 5MCC quite a bit. I find that it's coverage is broader than Wash Manual. I also have Harrison's Manual, though haven't had much time to try it. Both have information, albeit limited, on tinea versicolor, as does Outlines in Clinical Medicine, although to me that program is not as user-friendly. Have not tried CMC, although have heard very good things about it. A couple of observations:

1. First, most of these references are organized by disease, so looking up a particular bug probably won't help you in assessing breadth and depth of information.
2. Most also seem to have a primary care slant. To get more detailed info, you'd need to expand to 5mOrtho, 5mCardiac, etc. CMC's specialty modules may also serve this purpose.
3. Finally, for the large majority of what you will need as a 3rd year, any of these references should be fine. There is a tradeoff between completeness and something that is quick and easy to use, so you will not get a Harrison's level of detail, and IMO don't really need it on your PDA. Coverage seems quite similar among many programs, so speed and ease of lookup make a difference. I'd recommend trying 5MCC/CMC/etc out, see which one (or more!) you like best, and go with it. Good luck.

[jthompson]

(Forgive a professiorial didactism -- I don't mean to sound patronizing:) Handheld medical references should be regarded by medical students and residents as superficial reads and memory prompters. In general students need to go into more depth when learning medicine. Electronic books generally should be used the way we used the paper Merck Manual and Washington manual in my generation: a way to survive the night on call, but next day hit the big books and Medline to learn more about the disorder, if you can stay awake in the library.

I highly recommend Stedman's medical dictionary. Using my Clie I looked up "Malassezia furfor" and found "Malassezia" with a short description of the genus and its low pathogenicity. I only just started using Stedman's again and find it very complementary when the etexts don't mention an odd topic like that.

Nice atavar, by the way!

[crh3f]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll probably try out 5MCC, as well as CMC. I'll probably wait and put them on after the Boards, as after this week I'm not going to be having much clinical exposure until 3rd year starts. The quick references are what I'm looking for...something so that when I'm on the wards and see or hear something, I can look it up, see some symptoms, diagnostic criteria, treatment options, etc. Pathogenesis isn't as important (Robbins for that!) as a quick clinical overview. Usually what happens is I see something, ie Malassezia, and go "that wasn't very different from other skin rashes I've seen...how am I supposed to differentiate?" Ideally, I'd get them all...but $50+ each can add up!

As for the avatar...thanks! It's a combination of the NR70 gif from the Cliesource avatars and a logo I found on a website when looking for a ZLauncher background.

[jthompson]

Originally posted by crh3f
" 'that wasn't very different from other skin rashes I've seen...how am I supposed to differentiate?' " Welcome to a very big club!  If you ever find out, let me know. :)