Review : R.D.B's Art of Clinical Presentation in Surgery

This a real small handbook for quick revison of cases to be presented in Surgery.The book gives you an idea about case-taking, it lists the various questions to be asked to a patient when dealing with a particular case.It tells you about the format in which a case must be presented and how to give the diagnosis.It also contains a little theory associated with each type of case presentations.

The topics covered are :

1) Superficial Swellings
2) Hydrocoele
3) Hernia
4) Ulcer
5) Peripheral Vascular Disease
6) Varicose Veins
7) Breast
8) Thyroid
9) Lump in Abdomen
10) Obstructive Jaundice
11) Portal Hypertension
12) Head , Face and Neck

Pros : Extremely useful for revision the night before the exam!!!

Cons : Doesnt have pictures depicting the various tests to done...so u really need to be well read from a standard textbook.

Review : Prep Manual for Undergraduates - Medicine by K.George Mathew and Praveen Aggarwal

First things first...this book is not a substitute for a standard textbook of medicine.But what this book does is help you out during the exams.As we all know how vast a subject medicine is and no wonder the textbooks are so big , so most of us find it difficult to revise from the textbooks prior to exams because of the sheer volume of the reading!!Dont we all wish there was some who told us what were the most important things to done...so that at the end of the exam we dont feel "damm...why didnt i do this!"

K.George Mathew does precisely that and it covers all the systems quite well.The format adopted is a 'Question and Answer' format

The list of topics includes :

1) Diseases of the Blood
2) Diseases of the Respiratory System
3) Immunological Factors in Disease
4) Diseases of the Skin
5) Diseases of the Nervous System
6) Diseases of the Liver and Biliary System
7) Diseases of the Cardiovascular System
8) Diseases of the Gastroinstetinal System
9) Diseases of the Connective Tissues, Bones and Joints
10) Acute Poisoning and Environmental Emergencies
11) Nutrional Factors in Disease
12) Pyschiatry
13) Oncology
14) Genetics and Disease
15) Disturbances in Water , Electrolyte and Acid-Base Balance
16) Disease of the Kidneys and Genitourinary System
17) Diseases due to Infections
18) Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases

This more or less covers almost everything requires during the final mbbs exam.However the book does miss out on a few things.Firstly the Biliary system is not very well covered and also the Nutrional Diseases is missing a few things.

Also if you have read a regular textbook of medicine i am sure you'll be able to find out what might be lacking in the K.George Mathew.

Pros : Useful during exams as a guide for quick referance.

Cons : None...Considering that this book is mainly going to be used for exams

PS : My recomendation is...read a textbook of medicine before using or refering K.Geogre Mathew so that you can have all your basics sorted out!!

Books to refer in Final MBBS

I am refering these books after a having a personal experinace...

1) Medicine - Read Davidson initiatly...but later switch to George Mathew n PJ Mehta these books have all the stuff u need...

2) Surgery - Use Bailey n Love if u have the time but during exam time use Manipal...this is the only book u need!!During practs use RDB

3) Ortho - Maheshwari is enuff

4) Paediatrics - DK notes are more than sufficient...plus infectious and blood are present Matthew. For practs use Chheda.

5) Ob n Gy - Dutta for both...or use Shaw for Gynaec

This list is not exhaustive but its all that is required....