SGU PD Kit Amazon Links - Save yourself some $$$ *updated*

+ Everything you need for your SGU PD KIT in Term 2 and term 4/5 + beyond. These are the main items.  + Despite what your medical school tries to sell, you DO NOT need to get the School kit for $800+. You can save hundreds of dollars and buy yourself a nice trip to Barbados instead. + Remember, these instruments are for Practice/Learning, not clinical practice. Many of these items will be provided to you in hospital/clinic, and you won't be required to carry them around. Even for Step 2 CS and OSCE exams, they are provided to you. If anything, get a nice stethoscope and penlight (the two things you will carry with you everywhere you go). + If you'd like a Quality Otoscope/Opthalmoscope than the ACD, go with Welsch-Allen, (posted below). It magnifies what you're seeing better, but it will cost you. Still, Amazon will save you a hundred bucks. There are two cheaper options, the ADC and Welch Allyn, they work well enough, but lack things like different colored lenses (which they don't teach us to use), and a slightly dimmer light compared to the Welch. I have this and it works fine. + The automatic BP Cuff by ACD is really easy to use compared to the old school EMT type cuff too near the bottom, most hospitals/clinics will have the old school type. + The stethoscope you choose needs a diaphragm and a bell, like the Littmann. +All in all, you are learning technique, and most of the time your tutors will supply these things for you, these are mostly so you can practice on your own. Some people borrow a friends for the few exams you need them for in term 4, but it looks like most people bought their own. + Happy Shopping!

+ There are many styles of "Doctor Bags" in case you want something suited for your style. +Also, the penlights, BP cuff, and Reflex hammers all have multiple colors if that suits your style and you want to match scrubs. 

<-- +Here's a link to the Quality Welsch-Allyn Otoscope/Opthalmoscope
(Still Cheaper than SGU website). I actually reccommend this one if you plan on using it in the future (beyond medical school) 


+Don't Forget Extra Disposable Specula! You'll need more of the larger ones (4mm, **Latex-free are posted down below - Especially for the ACD kit. (btw, the 2.5 mm are more for children)

+Here's the tourniquet you need btw, if you want to get it, again this is one of those items you don't need because it's usually supplied, but if you insist its gotta be big enough for your thigh.
+ This pocket chart (although not snellen, has a RULER on the side, super useful to measure JVP. . .
*** THE PANOPTIC WELCH ALLYN OPTHALMOSCOPE IS SO GOOD. I came across this in clinical practice and I swear, you can finally see the whole eye in a circle like the textbooks!!
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+IPHONE/GADGETS!! I am excited to announce some nifty products for those who like using new technology!! This is the medicine of the future people, start getting used to it + check it out!

• Iphone Pulse Oximeter adapter!
• Iphone blood pressure cuff adapter!
• USB Otoscope + portable veinfinder
• *soon there will be otoscope/opthalmoscope adapters + Ultrasound adapters for Phones!       
• also, Check out this Free App you can use to measure your heart rate --> FREE HR App - it tracks the fluctuations of color in your fingertip as it is perfused with blood with each heart beat, giving you a waveform and surprisingly accurate heart rate.

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Cardiac Physiology - Term 2 - Reading an EKG

this 2 part 20min video was INCREDIBLY helpful to me not to read EKG's, but to actually understand WHY the graphs look the way they do. This can be a huge relief, and only 20 minutes of your time well spent understanding one of the concepts that most medical students are pretty much clueless about.

Remember to go by your notes in terms of what part of the EKG corresponds to what, but this video explains what you are really seeing.

CLICK THE "YOUTUBE" Logo if you want to fullscreen it.

SGU Term 2 Books To Get/Strategy

These are the Strategies and Books you should get if you want to excel in Term 2. This is time to start thinking about the USMLE if you haven't already. This term is big money on the Step, and you want to start studying with Review books and Questions to gain as much long term memory for this material as possible. At this point, you should realize you're either going to go all the way or not, so start preparing for it. 


***this is an update... I highly reccommend for this term you get a question bank or some reliable question source. I will mention some, but you are going to be challenged on exams. Don't get caught off gaurd and do questions while you study each section. Sometimes the kaplan Qbank has special prices, otherwise exammaster is free with SGU, and pretest is also tough, but gets you prepared for hard questions so that when test time comes around, you can handle it. *** okay. that said, read on...


Neuroanatomy:
Follow the note packet, it has everything you want in there. This term had the best note packets so far of any term. All you need is an anatomy atlas and Question books. The Haines Neuroanatomy atlas is where they pull their pictures from and a lot of the Testable info is in this book. You MUST get this atlas. Netter's Anatomy Atlas is also a GREAT alternative resource, that labels things from a different, helpful perspective. Get your hands on one of these too if youd like. As far as questions, Pre-test Neuroscience is perfect for questions, it has a lot of hard ones that are in line with the class with explanations. BRS Neuro is okay as well, but I had better success with PreTest. Of course UWorld and Exam master may have better question sets as well. I also really liked the Neuroscience Road Map Book, although I think you should pick this up only if you want to get more of a USMLE advantage for neuro. This book has Questions + Diagrams and Explanations, as well as lists and was very straight forward and complete.

Physiology:

Read your notepacket and goto class. The notes are perfect. Granted, its a LOT of information, but it's all you need. Nothing extra. Just question books.

Get the Pre-test Physio and BRS Physio Books. These are not only reccomended for this course, but also for the USMLE. BRS is great for the Cardio section for pre-midterm especially. THE GRAPHS. Pay attention to the graphs they use in BRS and PreTest. These are standard graphs used to test physiology. Know these graphs well. In Physio, it is common for them to make up their own graphs for you to interpret, but for the most part, these standard graphs will be commonly tested. At the very least, flip through these two books to see what I'm talking about so you know whats coming. These books, I noticed, in terms of the Cardio Section, as well as GI and Lungs, the questions were very similar to what we experienced on the exam. Pre-test has some harder questions, but DO THEM. Why? The practice questions given to you by the department ARE TOO EASY compared to the exams. HOWEVER, actually, I suggest doing as many T/F and practice questions SUPPLIED BY THE PHYSIO DEPARTMENT ON ANGEL/SAKAI because they give you valuable information that you need for the exam. What I'm telling you is that the school supplied questions are Necessary to get the information you need, but you also want to do Pre-Test to apply those concepts in vignette form. So, do pre-test to apply the information in order to prepare for the exam.

+btw, don't forget you'll need to invest in a PD KIT for Physio lab + also Term 4/5 and beyond. Check this out, you can save a lot of CA$H if you don't buy the school's expensive kit "AMAZON PD KIT"

Immunology:
This is a hard class. Strategy: DO AS WELL AS POSSIBLE ON THE MIDTERM. The final will be difficult. You may need a supplemental text to learn the material. The kaplan videos do a very good job. For pre-midterm, it is route memorization of the cytokines and their actions. If youd like a text, I would ask around, I dont have the best advice since I didn't look at books. I would guess The course director's Book, or Janeway Immunology, its Referenced several times in lecture for diagrams and movies. 
For post-midterm, you need a question book. Absolutely. The questions will not be straight forward. You will see things you did not study. You will read the question thinking you need to make a diagnosis, then they will give you the diagnosis in the question, and ask you one step further. You need to start familiarizing yourself with this type of thinking and how to study for it. That's why you need question books. ("The Purple Book")
This is the question book written by the Course Director! She obviously suggests it, but it actually does help a bit testing your ability to think through the concepts and lots of people, not just I, recommended it. It will not be enough though. I had a hard time finding questions that were not 1st order questions for this class. But this purple book is close, and I would suggest any other questions they supply on Sakai/Angel as must do's. TIP: DON'T NEGLECT THE NOTE UPDATES POSTED ON THE COURSE WEBSITE. There were some updates, like errata posted correcting some things in the notes, and these were ALWAYS on the exam. It will get you 2-3 points being familiar with these corrections.

Genetics:
This is a new addition to the Term 2 Cirriculum. It has also come to my attention that Genetics is becoming more high yield on the Step Exam, and so I wouldn't take this subject lightly. Read the notes and know it well. I don't know what else to tell you. I don't have the best advice in this area since they changed the cirriculum. Maybe find yourself a good review book. BRS is usually a sure shot. Take a look in the bookstore for what is listen in there. Goodluck.


Parasitology:
You need to pay attention to the lists in the 1st and Final Lecture. I would review these two lectures and start taking notes on these lists from day 1 throughout the course, this will help a lot once its time to study for the exam. Flashcards flashcards flashcards. You can do well in this class, its all memorization. BRS by the way usually includes parasit within BRS Microbiology, that's where you'll find it. But,  Most of us did well in this course without extra books.


CPM:
No outside material, this is like Medical BioEthics from term 1, except easier. The questions aren't as ambiguous. You can do well, make outlines for each lecture to study the days before the exam and you can get the A. You don't even need to goto class if you can study from notes. Don't miss out if they offer extra points or attendance. There are not many questions on the exam, so any points help you.
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This term is tons of work, the schedule used to be nicer, however, I think now that they've added Genetics, the schedule has become quite convoluted. You need to manage your time and get your priorities straight, this is the plan for Term 4 as well, so learn how you deal with this kind of stuff now. Physiology is 6 credits, neuro is 5. These are your big players. Don't neglect them. Immuno is next, then Genetics, followed by CPM and Parasit. Not only are Neuro and Physio big GPA credits, but they are huge on the Step, as well as Genetics and Immuno, so really maximize your resources. Get them straight, know exactly where to turn for information, and don't waste your time studying passively with the wrong material. Upgrade your study habits. That's the essentials for now. Goodluck yall!

Errors! Master the Boards Errata Step 2/3 - Kaplan - First Aid CK, CS Mistakes!

Of course, if you read my "two biggest advices for medical school", you'd agree that you never trust what other's tell you, why? because we are human, and we make mistakes. A lot of people are really liking the Master the Boards MTB series for Step 2 and Step 3 studying, and of course these are without exception. Even the might Dr. Conrad Fischer makes booboos. But like responsible adults, we take responsibility for our mistakes and graciously post the Errata online so you don't walk into the Test believing the mistakes are true.

So just be aware. The errata are posted here for Master the Boards and Kaplan's Books, just scroll down to the medical section and fix them:
http://www.kaptest.com/publishing

Probably more important is Step 1: 
In the past I posted about First Aid, and how when studying for Step 1, you should scour the errata and FIX THEM! In 2011, there were 11 pages of errors in the sacrad First Aid book! Well, there are errors in all the books for CK, CS, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3... And of course they have posted the Errata as well. Before its too late and you commit them to memory wrong...

you can find and fix them here:
http://www.firstaidteam.com/updates-and-corrections

Don't learn from your mistakes, you don't get second chances on the STEP!
Better to prevent them from ever happening!!!

Cheers!

Control + F = Find (Apple + F on a mac)

Attention Medical Students!

If you don't know about this computer shortcut, I am about to change your life.


When looking for information on a website, in a word document, and ESPECIALLY a digital copy of a textbook or PDF file.... Press Control + F. A search box comes up, you type in what you're looking for and it instantly finds what you're looking for.

Save yourself a ton of time. Don't sit there and flip through pages and pages of textbook or scrolling and God-Forbid... READING... through a long wikipedia article, or even bother with a glossary!
STOP IT. This is 2011.

I make sure I take all my notes in digital form, save all my textbooks in pdf, and have digital copies of nearly everything. Why? So if I ever want to quickly look up something from a previous class, I can find it in seconds, instead of russling through stacks of pages from 2 years of basic science coursework. Even the most OCD of us are annoyed by the huge stacks of papers we accumulate after 2 years of medical basic science courses. Save yourself the hassle and think ahead for the Step. If you want to reference something, you want to do it quick. Control + F. 

Sonic Foundry - SGU

This is the website you use to watch lectures online. Let's bring up a few good things you should know about it.

A lot of students use it to watch lectures between 1X and 2X speeds. 
If you're shrugging this off, maybe don't... i mean we all could use an extra 30 minutes per hour to study, can't we? Slowly increase the speed until you acclimate to the faster speeds. You'll have much more extra study time. 

This ONLY works on Internet Explorer (ON PC) and NOT on Mac (unless you install windows).

Important Points:

• If you have a PC, do NOT upgrade to Internet Explorer 10. It doesn't Work. Older versions are fine. 
• If you have a MAC, you can find someone tech savvy person to install a copy of Windows on your machine where you can use Internet Explorer, pretty much solely for the purpose to Sonic Foundry lectures at double speed. It's Worth it. 
• FOR GSP Students in ENGLAND: You CAN use your Grenadian counterpart's login information to access the grenada lectures/slides.
• For all students: You can access your peer's Lectures from PREVIOUS TERMS using their login info! If you're so inclined. 
• IF You find that the buttons to increase the speed are there, but aren't working, you may be full of cookies. Yes, I said it. haha. No seriously though, go into the browser settings, and clear the cache of stored information. I don't have the instructions for you here, but that's usually the problem. Clearing the cookies/stored temp files/etc will free up space for good old Sonic. 

We love you sonic, but you are a luxury. Btw, it goes down. A LOT. And, usually the days before exams, so a good rule is to Never rely on it, or it will eventually let you down.