 |
|
This page contains all the feedback I have received for my book and lectures so far, if you wish to add any comments to this section just email me via info@themedicalstudent.com
Fantastic book. A set of complete notes for medical and surgical finals great for last minute revision to make sure you have covered all essential points or a great book to base revision around. Is very easy to read and in bite size pockets of information. Really helped me pass medical finals first time!
I'm a 5th year medical student and used this book during my finals (both OSCE and written). I have got to say this book is absolutely brilliant! It covers all the specialities within medicine and surgery as well as all relevant information one needs to pass their finals. Each medical speciality is broken down into history taking, examination technique, investigations, and then a full revision section. Not only that but the appendix is great with sections on blood gases, ECGs, blood results, ALS, ATLS, and step-by-step guides to taking blood, inserting a catheter, NG tubes, urinalysis etc. etc. It's pitched at exactly the right level plus is clear, concise and straight to the point cutting out all the waffle contained in other books. You get the feeling that the authors really wants to help and the tips they give throughout really do make the subject easier. I would honestly recommend this book to all students whatever year you're in!
This fab new book is by Dr Marc Crutchley Bsc MBChB. It is entitled 'Medicine for Medical Students' and is described as being the 'complete guide to both OSCEs & written exam'. A description I fully agree with. This book is clear and concise & straight to the point. Rather than reading through pages & pages of thick expensive books sifting through information, this book has all you need in an easy to read and straight to the point way. It is a great aid for any medical student, especially for all OSPEs and the upcoming third year OSCEs. This book is also ONLY £30 which I believe is quite cheap for a medical textbook, especially one which is so helpful. Also, for every book sold to a St Andrews medical student, the medical society will receive a small share of the profits. I have a copy of this book & I can almost guarantee that all of you, whatever stage you are at will find it a worthwhile read & a great study aid! So go online & buy.
Verity
St Andrews Medical Society President
Click here to see a recent review article found in Manchester Uni's Mediscope Magazine, April 2008
This book is a great aid to revision as you come up to end of unit OSCE’s or end of year exams. Topics are clearly set out typically with a revision page for what to ask in the history for a given system, followed by a summary table of what to do for the examination and finally a few pages on the key diseases/processes we need to be aware of for that system.
The book is interspersed with helpful mneumonics and diagrams that are easy to memorize and scribble down before taking a history or forming an answer to an exam question. The appendices include helpful summaries of key facts, like GI secretions, medications typically used for each system and an excellent summary of hormones and their effects.
This book is written for medical students by someone who has been through the system and really underlines the key bits we need to know as undergraduates. It certainly would be my first point of call during the stressful exam period.
Michelle
Medicine for Medical Students should be a welcomed addition to any medical student’s bookshelves. It is hard to believe that one book can summarise the entire contents of a 5 year course, however the simplicity and no nonsense approach has resulted in a concise and efficient textbook.
The book covers OSCE style setting particularly well providing a tick box approach allowing students to assess their own and others performances in a similar way to how they should expect their examiners to. More importantly students will gain knowledge as to why they should pay attention to clinical findings and what they may mean. Although this may sound like a basic principle it is one that many students lack and the distinction students possess! Medical students tend to spend a fortune buying OSCE style books which have a tendency to give far too much detail and do not always focus on what is necessary to simply pass. Medicine for medical students offers a step by step approach on how to pass system OSCE stations. Unfortunately Dr Crutchley does not illustrate the same for clinical skills such as cannulation, venepuncture and life support. This should not be overlooked by a medical student purchasing this textbook as they are favourites in exams and frequently provide poor marks.
Systems revision sections are also included giving a broad overview to numerous topics. It would be foolish to rely upon this information exclusively however; I do not believe that this is the aim of such a book. Medical students are taught extensively on countless topics which can often lead to confusion. This textbook attempts to simplify copious lecture notes into a few pages. Therefore if common sense prevails then no student will simply learn this text alone but will use it to compliment what has already been taught and highlight pertinent information. Cleverly, space has been left in the margins and below each section so that students can add what they wish.
The only criticisms that I can offer is that like many other revision books some important topics have been missed. Obstetrics is not mentioned in detail, and yet is a very common OSCE station and long case scenario as patients are frequently well and able to withstand streams of students examining their abdomen. The quality of the drawings is poor and could have been produced better and possibly in colour. However, the positives certainly outweigh the negatives and an observant conscientious student will recognise the short falls and compensate.
I would certainly recommend this textbook to those currently studying 3rd year and above as it compliments clinical learning well. Dr Crutchley also, quite rightly, assumes that the student has some background knowledge to conditions. Therefore this book is a fantastic revision tool for those students who have a good grasp of basic concepts and require ways of remembering and recalling those vital facts and patterns of conditions. I have used and purchased numerous revision books but this is easily one of the best. I would suggest that it is a sound investment for those beginning clinical teaching providing a foundation of knowledge and skills to be built upon. If followed I can’t see how any student would not feel confident approaching their OSCE examination and pass satisfactorily.
Ruth Hiscock
Final Year Medical Student at Newcastle University
About a month ago, Dr Marc Crutchley sent me a copy of his new book, Medicine for Medical Students, and asked me if I’d review it on here. Clearly, that’s not something I’d normally do - I don’t think I’ve reviewed any sort of medical textbook of any description on this site ever… but I’m raving about this one.
I’m struggling a bit to come up with a way of describing the book without it sounding crap. Essentially, it’s written by a recently qualified doctor, and aims to be everything you need to know as a medical student condensed into 118 pages, so that readers no longer have to spend a fortune on 600 different textbooks. And it works really, really well.
I’ve seen books like this before, and never really liked them - I’m sure most other medical students have too - but this one is just great. It’s brilliant not only for revision, but also for those mornings when you wake up, realise you’re on some other speciality that day and can’t remember a thing about it - flick to the relevant section, and you can get a thorough but quick reminder of most things you’re likely to see and do before you’ve finished your cornflakes.
The content does require a fair amount of prior knowledge, and wouldn’t be great for someone learning things for the first time, but as a revision aid it is just fabulous - primarily because it assumes a basic level of knowledge, and also doesn’t go into complex depth - it’s pitched at exactly the right level.
I’m currently so enthusiastic about this book and its ideology that I think I might still be raving about it in a decade’s time, much like I still rave about QBasic by Example despite the fact that QBasic is now a relatively archaic programming language and that I haven’t written a program in it for almost a decade.
My writing is getting more rambling by the day, isn’t it?
Dr Crutchley also has a lecture series available for sale, and is in the process of making a clinical skills DVD.
You can get the book and the lectures from his website - TheMedicalStudent.com - both come very highly recommended.
Simon Howard
hi marc,
i went to most of the lecture and thought they were all excellent. They were an ideal standard, pitched at the right level. They help condense the information and guided us as to what we should know and what was important. I look forward to them next year
thanks clo
Hi Marc
At last a book that has everything! It helped me so much when I was studying for my exams. Thank you very much.
Jim Kerss
Hello
i got an email asking for feedback for the morning lectures so the answers to your questions are as follows:
I was wondering whether you found the lectures helpful?
Yes they were very helpful especially since we do not get much help from the med school in terms of clinical pathology lectures nor do we get any help for focused history taking which i found very useful! In addition the diabetic foot exam you went through came out in our OSCE so that was very useful too.
Did you enjoy them?
I enjoyed them because i knew they would be useful tools for revision and at first it was hard to come in that early to attend the lectures but i think you get used to it quickly .I also liked the fact that you just presented the bare facts we needed to know and did not go into massive details about each topic so it kept it interesting as lots of topics were covered effectively.
How were my presentation skills?
I liked the fact that during the presentation of the history taking you made little diagrams to help us memorize it better and while going through the slides i liked that you related it to what happens in real clinical practise where possible. I also like the little exam tips you give us.
Does any one lecture stand out as particularly good/bad?
I think the endocrinology lecture was good because i had poor understanding of that topic and i really found the respiratory exam lecture useful as it cut down my time to do an resp exam and made it very slick and easy to memorize. i don’t think anyone of the lectures were particularly bad.
Is there anything I missed out over the weeks?
I think all the major topics were covered well
And anything else you'd like to comment on would be appreciated.
I think the lectures are a great idea and its nice that someone is keen to help us students.
Hope that helps. Kind Regards Aparna
Yo marc
These lectures really are fantastic, a must for anyone studying medicine
Tom Williams
Hi Mark,
Just dropping a brief line to say the lectures you gave us were fantastic, they really helped when it came to the OSCE and were thorough. I can't think of anything that you missed.
Maha
Dear Marc
Thank you very much for giving the third year lectures - they were 'punchy,'
focused and gave some great guidelines for what we need to know. The speed of the lecture was just right and it always seemed to be set in a relaxed environment so that if we had questions -we felt we could bombard you with them!
Have an awesome summer - see you soon
Julianne
hi,
just mailing to say that I thought the lectures were brilliant, and thanks so much for running through diabetic foot exam couldn’t believe it when it actually came up! i only went to the last few lectures but they were so good that i wished i'd made the effort to go to the other ones.
the thing that i liked the most was the fact that u covered the essential, the stuff that’s really going to come up in the exams and none of the rare stuff which is nice to know i guess, but you don’t really care about it when you've exams round the corner. i liked how it was geared towards the osces and would really appreciate it if you put them on next year again.
thanks so much,
nili
Hi Marc,
I went to your lectures and found them all really useful. I think the way that you emphasise the important parts for our exams makes the subject a lot less daunting. Also I found your pneumonic and diagrams helpful.
Thanks again for the great teaching and I look forward to more next semester!
Tom
Hi Marc,
Hope you're well. You taught my pbl group last semester on B3 with Dr Dalal and handed out some really useful GI and GU history and examination sheets. I was wondering whether you had any for CVS and respiratory? They were a lot of help and i'd be really grateful if you were able to maybe email them accross?
Thanks very much,
Saleena
hi marc,
Thanks a mill for all the lecture's and help. really appreciate it,
Clodagh
Dear Marc;
Thanks for the great lectures.
Cheers, James
Hi Marc,
I have found your revision lectures over the last number of weeks most useful and would greatly appreciate your notes on haematology. Furthermore I think the OSCE revision weekend is a wonderful idea and if it's not too much trouble, could you perhaps incorporate some aspects of ECG as unfortunately I was unable to attend that session.
Many thanks,
Julie-Ann.
Hi Marc
huge thank you for doing all these revision lectures for us, it really is appreciated. Also I'd definitely be interested in the revision weekend for OSCEs that you mentioned. Thanks again.
Kate
Dear Marc
I have spoken to my clinical partner and Hope housemate who would both be interested in the OCSE revision weekend (I think my entire PBL group were looking forward (if those are the right words!) - to it too) - so if you think you could work a miracle or two -think there would be lots of happy third years!
Huge thank you for doing the lectures - they are very useful (I came into Hope solely for it today!)
Thhhaannkkkk yyyooouu!
Jules