Surgery Clerkship

• On the wards
  
• See "Intro to the Wards" and then resign yourself to the fact that you will be waking up well before the crack of dawn and getting home after the sun sets. If you can handle the hours you're 3/4 of the way there.
• Learn to tie knots & suture.
  

• Books for the Shelf
• Real Text Books - It's up to you to decide if you like having a thorough reference or just want to stick with review books. If you're the text book type, the following two have been recommended by classmates and course directors.
• Essentials of General Surgery (Lawrence)
  
• The The Surgical Review: An Integrated Basic and Clinical Science Study Guide (Recall Series)
  
• Review Books
• Surgical Recall (Recall Series) - If one book is essential for the surgery clerkship, Surgical Recall is that book. Buy it, read it, and then read it again. Availble for your PDA here.
  
• First Aid for the Surgery Clerkship (First Aid Series) - Very helpful and manageable mid-week reading, not all inclusive, but pertinent.
  
• NMS Surgery - Dense and detailed, but the questions are useful.
  
• Blueprints Surgery: Principles and Methods (Blueprints Series) - Not enough detail, but again good questions, similar to those on the Shelf (a.k.a. long)
  
• Question Books
• Blueprints Q&A Step 2 Surgery - Great Shelf style questions with full explanations. Small book that is easy to carry around with you on the wards.
• Kaplan USMLE Step 2 CK Qbook - Do the 2 Surgery Tests, as for the Medicine Shelf, these questions are money.
  
• Surgery (Pretest Series) - Recommended with good coverage of questions seen on the Shelf. Now and then an answer is marked incorrectly, but the explanations are accurate.
  
• Case Files: Surgery (Lange Case Files) - High yield, with detailed answers.
  
• Appleton & Lange Review of Surgery - The questions are more difficult than those on the Shelf but useful especially for the sub-specialties.