Resources
The following are resources that I use, so many are only relevant to Canada and, more specifically, the University of Toronto.
Studying
- MKSAP, from the American College of Physicians, is one of the best learning resources for internal medicine, but very VERY expensive. I use its question bank for whatever rotation I’m on, so it’s worth it for me. However, signing up for ACP as a resident is cheap and gives you a huge discount on MKSAP.
- I’m really curious about NEJM Knowledge Plus but can’t justify the expense since I already have MKSAP. If anyone has used it, please let me know how it stands up to MKSAP!
Reference
- UpToDate is available for free through the U of T Libraries. Create an UpToDate account, then log into the account through the U of T network every few months.
- Similarly, DynaMed Plus is available for free through the CMA. They’re now trying to emulate UpToDate; I preferred the bullet-point style of the original DynaMed.
- Wiki Journal Club has great summaries of important trials, and is also available as an app (for when you’re asked about the PROVE-IT or TRICC trials).
Staying up-to-date
I subscribe to email updates and RSS feeds with the latest, greatest research. If I don’t have time that day, I delete the email without reading it, and I don’t feel guilty. If I do have time, I skim the headlines to get a sense of what people think is important, then delete the email. If I have even more time, I might read on of the articles, or at least its abstract. The resources are:
- If you only regularly read one thing, it should be Richard Lehman’s Weekly Reviews. He’s a British GP who happens to be wicked smart and witty. More enjoyable than anything else I read on this list.
- NEJM Journal Watch has probably the best-developed overview of the most interesting recently-published papers. It also has subspecialties (for your area of interest). I just signed up for the email alerts; if I see something interesting, I go track down the paper itself.
- POEMs are great, and free through the CMA. They’re short summaries of recent papers, and always include the “bottom line” summary.
- Similar to POEMs is 2 Minute Medicine, where you can sign up for email updates that include a short, one-paragraph summary of some paper. One advantage is that they regularly send out summaries from their “Classics Series” of important trials that residents should try to learn about
- General interest sites and blogs, including KevinMD, New York Times Well, and STAT News. Much more enjoyable reading than the primary literature.
Preparing for future practice
- It’s free to be a resident affiliate of the Royal College of Canada, and allows you to start logging CME credits that will count towards your first cycle of CME requirements after you finish residency. Not a bad deal for free.