Surgery: A Case Based Clinical Review

Surgery was my first clerkship of the year. After hearing about how hard the shelf exam can be (and that most of it is Medicine), I felt that the famed Pestana book wouldn't be enough. A friend mentioned this book, and I also found it referenced a few times on Student Doctor Network. I took the plunge. Very thankful I made that decision. This book contains the answer to almost every (reasonable) question you'll get pimped on during the clerkship and served as a phenomenal tool for preparation for the shelf. It's a hefty book, so you'll need to start early, but it's worth it. I would try to read about a chapter a night (some days I would skip and make up for on the weekend). Don't necessarily go in order. I would highly suggest reading chapters relevant to the cases you have the next day...you'll look like a rockstar most of the time. By the end of the rotation, I read the book cover-to-cover once (doing all the questions in the back as well). The questions are hard, but get you into the mindset required for the shelf. A few days before the shelf, I read Pestana cover-to-cover for the first time and did all of the questions in that book as well. It should only take you about a day. Most of Pestana is contained in this book, so it'll be a review. The day before the shelf exam, I reviewed the 'summary of essentials' page at the end of every chapter in this book. Somewhere along the way, I did about 90 of the UWorld Surgery questions. Didn't even finish them. I also did both NBME practice exams, which I would suggest. They don't offer answers, which is unfortunate, but you get to see the style of questions on the shelf...which can be helpful. You'll be less surprised when you get curveballs on the real thing. I did not use NMS Casebook or any other books because I just didn't like them or they seemed to have tons of crazy tables and figures. Ended with a raw score of 83, which at this time of year translated to the 95th percentile...which I was thrilled with. I'm not any smarter than a typical medical student, so this is a testament to the resources used. Could you go higher with some additional resources? Yeah. No doubt. But, this book was well-written and easy to read (for a textbook). I never felt like I was being thrown unnecessary details...it was all stuff I felt like I genuinely wanted to know as a future physician. Best of luck!

This book is absolutely a must have for surgical rotations! I wish all specialties had a book like this. It’s a big book, but a very easy read. You’ll be amazed by how much you learn from just passively reading this. Everything is so well organized, and the order of explanations are very logical. I also purchased Dr. Pestana’s Surgical notes for my rotation, and I did not use it at all (too much of a summary, does not cover anything in depth). I had an oral exam in addition to a written shelf for my surgical rotation, and this book prepared me for both. I cannot stress the value of this book enough! Other students who have done their surgery rotation before I have had said their only regrets for studying for this shelf was not reading this book soon enough, and now I understand why!

This book saved my butt during my surgery rotation. Its information is easy to absorbed, uptodate and concise without missing any details. A lot of the questions it discusses are exact questions I received from my residents and attendings. My favorite part of the book is that at the end of each chapter, it provides 5-6 literature references to look at for more information. I have learned 3rd year that many residents expect you to know and have read the studies that lead to our guidelines and this book provides an easy way to do that.

I got this book for my surgery rotation in medical school. This is a great book. It has enough detail and is outlined in a concise and organized manner. I used this solely to pass my oral exams and was the main reading material for my shelf exam as well. Organization: Book is split into chapters based on major surgery topics: upper gi bleed, lower gi bleed, vascular, urology, etc. Each chapter is split into 2-5 case vignettes that starts with a one liner. Each case then goes on to explain typical presentations, the reason behind the symptoms, and how you'd differentiate between a great differential that they provide. This style fit my oral exams so well that I didn't need anything else. This vs pastanas? - listen, pastanas reads like someones notes with scant explanations behind many things. This book is concise but provides the explanations for you. Moreover, they go through tricky parts of each surgical case and finishes each case with a outline of major points. If you're looking for something more in depth than pastans, this is it. This book does not explain how to do procedures unless it's relent to being tested on the shelf. So this is a shelf and oral exam resource. This is not a resource to learn techniques or methods of surgical techniques.

BEST BOOK EVER FOR SURGERY WARDS. HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND - CRUSHED PIMPING QUESTIONS BECAUSE LITERALLY - EVERY. SINGLE. PIMPING QUESTION IS FROM THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!

Used a combo of this guy, Pestana, and OME for my Surgery clerkship. 96 %ile on the Shelf, which I -largely- credit to de Virgilio. No other source is going to give you this depth of information in a digestible-for-M3 level. Do it. You won't regret it. Looks massive (and it is), but I promise you can get through it.

It's not bare-bones high yield, but each case is on a high yield topic. The case format (with 2-5 pages on each topic/vignette) is great for big picture learners. I felt like this text helped me to understand the high yield facts I was regurgitating from other sources.

Great book for med students on surgery clerkship. Gives adequate attention to pathophys for the most common surgical problems and gives you details of the workup, indications and contraindications for procedures, and occasionally some tidbits that are more for pimping than practical purposes. Highly recommend. Be aware that if you take the NBME Surgery Shelf at the end of your rotation, you'll definitely need another resource to supplement since the Shelf is more medicine oriented.

Some NBME shelf questions and the majority of pimping question I was asked on my surgery rotation came verbatim from this book. No one else you know will use this, but it is gold. Cons: -will NOT fit in your pocket. Possibly not even your backpack. -if you are a small female this may weigh more than you. -Topics not included: Lung CA, Liver CA, some pre/post-op topics like TPN and Fluid Resuscitation. You will need another source for these.

Excellent book. Easy read. Can go through a chapter in 45 minutes or so Update: downgraded my 5 star review to 4 stars because of the horrible binding. I already have pages falling off after two months of reading

Surgery was my first clerkship of the year. After hearing about how hard the shelf exam can be (and that most of it is Medicine), I felt that the famed Pestana book wouldn't be enough. A friend mentioned this book, and I also found it referenced a few times on Student Doctor Network. I took the plunge. Very thankful I made that decision. This book contains the answer to almost every (reasonable) question you'll get pimped on during the clerkship and served as a phenomenal tool for preparation for the shelf. It's a hefty book, so you'll need to start early, but it's worth it. I would try to read about a chapter a night (some days I would skip and make up for on the weekend). Don't necessarily go in order. I would highly suggest reading chapters relevant to the cases you have the next day...you'll look like a rockstar most of the time. By the end of the rotation, I read the book cover-to-cover once (doing all the questions in the back as well). The questions are hard, but get you into the mindset required for the shelf. A few days before the shelf, I read Pestana cover-to-cover for the first time and did all of the questions in that book as well. It should only take you about a day. Most of Pestana is contained in this book, so it'll be a review. The day before the shelf exam, I reviewed the 'summary of essentials' page at the end of every chapter in this book. Somewhere along the way, I did about 90 of the UWorld Surgery questions. Didn't even finish them. I also did both NBME practice exams, which I would suggest. They don't offer answers, which is unfortunate, but you get to see the style of questions on the shelf...which can be helpful. You'll be less surprised when you get curveballs on the real thing. I did not use NMS Casebook or any other books because I just didn't like them or they seemed to have tons of crazy tables and figures. Ended with a raw score of 83, which at this time of year translated to the 95th percentile...which I was thrilled with. I'm not any smarter than a typical medical student, so this is a testament to the resources used. Could you go higher with some additional resources? Yeah. No doubt. But, this book was well-written and easy to read (for a textbook). I never felt like I was being thrown unnecessary details...it was all stuff I felt like I genuinely wanted to know as a future physician. Best of luck!

This book is absolutely a must have for surgical rotations! I wish all specialties had a book like this. It’s a big book, but a very easy read. You’ll be amazed by how much you learn from just passively reading this. Everything is so well organized, and the order of explanations are very logical. I also purchased Dr. Pestana’s Surgical notes for my rotation, and I did not use it at all (too much of a summary, does not cover anything in depth). I had an oral exam in addition to a written shelf for my surgical rotation, and this book prepared me for both. I cannot stress the value of this book enough! Other students who have done their surgery rotation before I have had said their only regrets for studying for this shelf was not reading this book soon enough, and now I understand why!

This book saved my butt during my surgery rotation. Its information is easy to absorbed, uptodate and concise without missing any details. A lot of the questions it discusses are exact questions I received from my residents and attendings. My favorite part of the book is that at the end of each chapter, it provides 5-6 literature references to look at for more information. I have learned 3rd year that many residents expect you to know and have read the studies that lead to our guidelines and this book provides an easy way to do that.

I got this book for my surgery rotation in medical school. This is a great book. It has enough detail and is outlined in a concise and organized manner. I used this solely to pass my oral exams and was the main reading material for my shelf exam as well. Organization: Book is split into chapters based on major surgery topics: upper gi bleed, lower gi bleed, vascular, urology, etc. Each chapter is split into 2-5 case vignettes that starts with a one liner. Each case then goes on to explain typical presentations, the reason behind the symptoms, and how you'd differentiate between a great differential that they provide. This style fit my oral exams so well that I didn't need anything else. This vs pastanas? - listen, pastanas reads like someones notes with scant explanations behind many things. This book is concise but provides the explanations for you. Moreover, they go through tricky parts of each surgical case and finishes each case with a outline of major points. If you're looking for something more in depth than pastans, this is it. This book does not explain how to do procedures unless it's relent to being tested on the shelf. So this is a shelf and oral exam resource. This is not a resource to learn techniques or methods of surgical techniques.

BEST BOOK EVER FOR SURGERY WARDS. HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND - CRUSHED PIMPING QUESTIONS BECAUSE LITERALLY - EVERY. SINGLE. PIMPING QUESTION IS FROM THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!

Used a combo of this guy, Pestana, and OME for my Surgery clerkship. 96 %ile on the Shelf, which I -largely- credit to de Virgilio. No other source is going to give you this depth of information in a digestible-for-M3 level. Do it. You won't regret it. Looks massive (and it is), but I promise you can get through it.

It's not bare-bones high yield, but each case is on a high yield topic. The case format (with 2-5 pages on each topic/vignette) is great for big picture learners. I felt like this text helped me to understand the high yield facts I was regurgitating from other sources.

Great book for med students on surgery clerkship. Gives adequate attention to pathophys for the most common surgical problems and gives you details of the workup, indications and contraindications for procedures, and occasionally some tidbits that are more for pimping than practical purposes. Highly recommend. Be aware that if you take the NBME Surgery Shelf at the end of your rotation, you'll definitely need another resource to supplement since the Shelf is more medicine oriented.

Some NBME shelf questions and the majority of pimping question I was asked on my surgery rotation came verbatim from this book. No one else you know will use this, but it is gold. Cons: -will NOT fit in your pocket. Possibly not even your backpack. -if you are a small female this may weigh more than you. -Topics not included: Lung CA, Liver CA, some pre/post-op topics like TPN and Fluid Resuscitation. You will need another source for these.

Excellent book. Easy read. Can go through a chapter in 45 minutes or so Update: downgraded my 5 star review to 4 stars because of the horrible binding. I already have pages falling off after two months of reading

The book is really well organized. I’d highly recommend going through it along side with Uworld questions. and has an interesting way of breaking down vignettes into different teaching points as well as including differential diagnosis.

About 25% of the way into this book. It has a seamless flow to it that really facilitates stopping and summarizing to yourself. Meaning you retain what you read and you can actually utilize the information for patient care, pimping, and board style questions - something hard to come by in one book for any clerkship, especially one with limited time for reading like surgery.

really like this book for surgery prep. it is really easy to read, and not super dense or choppy like some review books. This is written in more of a textbook style. I highly reccomend for anyone interested in pursuing a surgical field.

Great study for surgery shelf. Recommend reading cover to cover if you want to honor.

If you seriously want to ace the shelf search no more. This book has everything that you need for it. It covers both surgical and medical management for the most common conditions seen in practice. Additionally it cover relevant material for subspecialties as well as other surgical specialties.

Great for learning. But lestana better for shelf

If you read this cover to cover and do practice questions in addition to your reading, the surgery shelf will be no problem at all, and you will have a solid clinical foundation for your rotation. This is the best MS3-specific text book written

If you have to learn surgery, this is the way to go. Each chapter is based vinette. You can read it and make your own differential before reading on!

Highly recommend to those gunners or to students looking to pursue a residency in surgery. I believe there is a newer edition out now so perhaps look into that.

Very informative, detailed book that explains underlying thought processes between similar differential diagnoses and how to tease out differences while still maintaining relevance not exceeding that required for medical student level

This is the best book to prepare for the medical school surgery shelf. Goes more in depth than most other review books but is still easily readable in a short time. Also I had a few questions about topics in the book and emailed Dr. De Virgilio and he responded in person in one day and was very nice and educational with his response!!

One of the best books I have ever purchased. Used it for my internal medicine rotation as well. I wish more books were written like this...

It was a very thick book when I got it, but a much easier read than expected. Great for the wards, good for the shelf but need to supplement with Pestana's, Surgical Recall, etc...

Excellent resource for 3rd year med student surgery rotation. Easy to read format. Very dense with lots of clinical pearls but worth the read so far.

Great for those interested in surgery. Its a very detailed book, not for amateurs.

I used this primarily this book as well as online med ed videos to study for my 3rd year clerkship and ended up acing the shelf exam. The book is very thick, but reads easily and does not seem as big as it looks. I would highly recommend it.

Going through this book helped me do well on the Surgery shelf.

Book has excellent content, but very poor binding. It split between pages 385 and 415, and a few sheets fell out. Just be gentle with it I guess.

One of the best textbooks ever written. An easy read yet answers every question you could have had in a simple, straightforward way. Highly recommend.

Great textbook that got me through the surgery shelf. Highly recommended.

Easily got an A on the shelf exam using this textbook. It is thick, but manageable if you really want the grade. Way better depth than Pestana's.

The binding riped within the first month of getting it. There was no way to reach out to the distributor to speak about this. Barely used and pretty much fell apart

Good clinical cases with excellent questions and answers.

This book + UWorld = Honors in Surgery!

Definately one of the main reasons I aced my clerkship. Highly recommended.

Really good review questions, in significant number.

Absolutely the best surgical textbook I used for clerkships. Super useful and necessary for studying for the shelf exam, but more importantly, as a future non-surgeon, I will definitely consult this book in the future.

It's a bit more in-depth but well worth it. Great for board studying too

Perfect

Great reading

This book is very readable and helped me so much on my surgery rotation and shelf!

Simply the best sugery book ever.

Good content — pages falling out left and right

This is far and away the best textbook I've used in medical school. For those that are uptodate with resources for medical students: the effectiveness and greatness of this book rivals that of pathoma and sketchy micro. This book is so comprehensive, but is never too daunting or too dense of a read. The book is fantastic for your surgery rotation and surgery shelf exam. The questions in the back are difficult but educational because of the very comprehensive explanations. I can't recommend this book enough.

This book is the best thing that you could use for your MS3 surgery rotation. It is clear, concise and not dense. There is also a nice page long summary at the end of each case. Despite it's large size, it is easy to get through if you read a 1 - 2 chapters every day (there are 60 of them). I read this book over 8 weeks of my surgery rotation and did the questions in the back at the end after I had finished reading all of the chapters. I also used Uworld surgery q's, read Pestanas 2x and did the NBME practice exams. I ended up scoring much higher than expected on my surgery shelf - definitely a reflection of the quality of this resource. I have never, ever written a review on amazon before but I feel strongly that this book is worth it! CON: the binding on this book really sucks. I carted my book around with me for 2 months, it fell apart and I lost some of the pages. It may be a good idea to get it spiral bound to avoid this.

This book is a GREAT resource for the surgery shelf. It's easy to read and has everything you need to know. However, the pages started ripping out as soon as I started using it. The pages literally tear off the binding just by opening the book all of the way. It's super annoying because you can't lay the book flat on the table while you read.

As far as content goes, this text is great for the NBME Surgery Shelf Exam. However, I'm extremely disappointed with the binding on the book. The first time I opened it, the bottom of the pages began to separate from the spine of the book. I'm on my second read through of the book after less than a month of gentle use and I've already got entire pages falling out of the book.

This was an absolutely fantastic book, specifically designed for 3rd year medical students preparing for their SHELF. It's concise but packed with all the necessary information for an M3 on the surgical service. I would even say it might be a good refresher for surgery interns prior to their residency/4th year medical students going into a surgical specialty.

I found this among my favorite texts during medical school. Forget NMS and pestana. This book is up to date, well organized, and full of awesome questions. It will prepare you well for shelf and rotation. Truly spot on.

Incredible resource, I would give it 10 stars if I could. The cases in this book prepare you for everything that your attending will ask you throughout the case and the questions in the back thoroughly prepare you for the shelf.

A truly excellent text for surgery clerkship especially if you haven't had IM rotation yet. If you have time to read a very comprehensive text then this is it. I found that I could get through the text but because of it's length, I couldn't memorize it the way you can do for a much smaller book. Only other gripe is the use of the term "African-American race" throughout the text which is both inaccurate and stupid. I don't know if the editor was attempting to be overly PC. Clearly they cannot mean that the billions of Black people all over the Earth are "African-American!" A Ghanian man living in China is "African-American?" When in doubt use the word "Black" or "Brown" even. Black is not a dirty word.

Best medical school text book I have used. The only resource you need to do well on the shelf.

I used this book along with NMS Casebook, Pestana's Notes (newest edition), and Cope's Acute Abdomen, and I scored in the 95th percentile on the Surgery shelf exam. The strongest advantage of this book are the questions at the end, along with their very good explanations. I definitely recommend this book for the Surgery shelf.

This is the best books out there for the surgery shelf and for aspiring surgeons in general. It was recommended to me (after my surgery clerkship unfortunately) but still went through it before my sub-i. I only wish I had known about it sooner because it does an amazing job of describing the most common cases. It is more thorough than Case Files so it helps in solidifying information. The cases are easy to read and have a wealth of information that's high yield for the shelf. In summary--this will most likely become the next standard for the surgery shelf along w/ Pestana the day before. My word of advice: stop wasting time and get on this book ASAP. you will destroy the shelf!!