First and Second Year Reading Lists?

**Frank E** · 16-09-2009, 07:10 PM

£80! Ouch!

I'd be going straight to the course rep.

**Frank E** · 17-09-2009, 05:06 AM

Seen various prices for it: £40.70, £49.87, £68.50

**Kensei** · 17-09-2009, 04:05 PM

£47? Well, thats a little better... I got all the prices off amazon, which is the cheapest option 99% of the time

Yes, there supposedly is an 'extended' reading list somewhere, but u'd be better off forgetting about it - the one in pre-medical booklet u all should've received contains all your essential textbooks, i.e. stuff they intend u to use. The 'extended' list might suggest random books unlikely to be worth the bother of buying them, e.g. Rang & Dale's Pharmacology or highly specific books on cardiology or obstetrics. You will NOT need those unless for some strange reason u feel inclined to start preparing for your chosen speciality in year 1. In other words - just focus on the basic list from the tiny booklet, there should b about £200 worth of textbooks to buy just in there.

**Frank E** · 18-09-2009, 04:55 AM

I was into the library on my way home and they don't have a reading list.

I had a brief look at Human Physiology An Integrated Approach (HPAIA) v's Vander's.

Initially, as this has been selected for the reading list after Vander's has been a core text for some time I looked through the credits to see if any Aberdeen Professors, Lecturers or Doctors were mentioned in the credits or acknowledgements or if there was any connection to Aberdeen. None were and there wasn't. I'd surmise Human Physiology An Integrated Approach has been selected on it's merits and applicability to the course structure or methodology.

The overall structures of the two publications are initially quite similar; Brief Contents, Contents, a few pages about their graphics and unique selling points, first chapter on homeostatis, second on cell chemistry, and from thereabouts on chapters on systems. Similar fonts have been used in both titles and the layout and use of white space is quite similar so text and document clarity are comparable.

To compare structure of the chapters, their graphics content and text I selected the 'Muscles' chapter in each book.

Vanders has 'additional clinical examples' at the close of each chapter to add clinical context. For example in Muscles chapter, a paragraph or two on Myasthenia Gravis, Hypocalcaemic Tetany, Muscle Cramps, Muscular Dystrophy.

HPAIA open the chapter outlining a clinical problem with patient history, and close the chapter by discusing the problem incorporating what can be learned from the body of the chapter. Fllicking through other chapters it was evident the systems chapters are headed with a clinical problem revelant to the discussion topic, some also include historical trivia in the introduction. This probably aligns with the Aberdeen MBChB's new structure of integrating the study of Systems and Disease.

HPAIA, by structuring the chapters thus, tries to get the student to apply physiology study to problems form the outset. I think the patient's medical story continues over a few chapters so the knowledge accrued from previous chapters can be contextualised.

The diagrams are clear in HPAIA, as they are in Vander's. Both introduce the histology of skeletal muscle first, with almost identical illustrations and their sequencing continues in a similar fashion throughout the chapter. Some of the diagrams are clearer in HOAIA than in Vander's, for example the a Sarcomere Organisation drawing in HPAIA, drawn in finer line, much like an engineering drawing rather than a biological sketch helped this reader visualise the structure better.

Some of the visuals were not clear in either book, for instance a diagram of the response in a muscle to a nerve stimulus left me unclear what the waveform of the excitation current was.

I appeared to me that the Human Physiology An Integrated Approach and Vander's are uncannily similar in their content , almost as if one has been used as a guide to writing the other

Integrated is the operative word. I think from the new aims and methodology of the course (integration of the study of systems and disease), Silverthorne's Human Physiology An Integrated Approach is a good choice and has a little more context than Vander's in the chapter intros.

I'd buy it and I've been humming and hahing over buying Vander's for a few months (though for premed & general knowledge use).

HPAIA is a little weightier than Vander's but to alleviate your Medical Students Vertebral Syndrome there are about a dozen copies of it in the Heavy Demand Section, all brand spanking new with the online access scratch-off wax strips already scored off (so no baksheesh online access to be had). It would appear then, they are using it from the outset.

Cheapest I saw was at bookdepository.co.uk 40.70 (check T&Cs, delivery costs etc).
Disclosure: not affiliated in any way.

That wasn't intended as a review, just my first impressions of Human Physiology An Integrated Approach.. I didn't spend enough time trying to follow through sequences of physiological events to see how the book flows in describing and linearising the end-to end processes or reading through the texts to make it a proper review.

Mcleods is accessible, easy to follow, can get you started quickly on clinical examination with minimal medical school knowledge. The style of the book, particularly the illustrations reminds me of the British/ American Red Cross, American First Aid Society first aid manuals and site posters.

Only one copy in heavy demand (why I say they seem to be using HPAIA from the outset)

K&C I find quite readable.
I don;t find it makes heavy use of healthy physiological and biochem knowledge throughout.
Most sections are accessible even to a layman like me,Chapters 1,2,3,5,6 aren't difficult to read or understand but others are pretty heavy e.g. Immunology in Ch4, no pretty heavy is not the phrase I'm looking flippig impossible is more like it, but I'll get it someday . Admittedly I skip some of the biochem but it doesn't hold back understanding the rest of what's being conveyed and it's helping my understanding of biochem concepts more than reading any pure biochem book would at this time.
As for physiology, there is some healthy physiology in there and it's possible to interpolate some healthy physiology to some degree, though good physio knowledge would help a great deal.

Remembering it all, now that's a different story!

If I was only allowed one medicine book it would be Kumar and Clarke.

Clearly I need to get out more, hahaha.

Do you do OSCEs first year?

**keiran91** · 18-09-2009, 02:58 PM

So is K&C, Vanders and Macleods basically the same TYPE of book as HPAIA, just depends which one you'd prefer to use and which one you find easier to read?

**Kensei** · 18-09-2009, 04:34 PM

Nope, macleod's is focused on clinical examination in practice, and aims to give u some theoretical background in this (u won't properly learn physiology, biochemistry, anatomy or pathophysiology purely from this text)

K&C is meant to be a clinical medicine text, i.e. general introduction into practice of medicine, therefore mostly focused on pathophysiology and describing the processes, diagnosis, and management of disease. It will provide u with some basic biochem, anatomy and healthy physiology knowledge, but it won't be enough to pass the exams.

vanders/silverthorn physiology are both aimed at healthy phys, but will give u (some) specific examples of pathophysiological processes.

On top of all this, u will need a (good) anatomy text, unless u're ok with using acland's dvd of human anatomy for ur revision (seemed to work well enough for us last year, but I don't know how much the course changed in terms of anatomy teaching)

To sum up - each of the 'essential' texts they told u to get is specialising in something and will probably delineate basics of related areas of medicine, but there is no text which will teach u everything. That being said, clinical medicine textbooks like K&C or Davidson's are probably the most complete.

btw - Frank E, that was an impressive comparison of HPAIA and Vanders - your perspective as a new student is probably way more valid than mine, therefore whatever works for you is likely to work for most people in your class.

All things considered, the structure, content, layout, diagrams and even paper quality can be compared in rival texts (e.g. K&C vs Davidson's, vanders vs HPAIA), but it boils down to whether you as an INDIVIDUAL prefer to learn from one or the other. A recommended text may fit perfectly with the new programme, but if it's as interesting to read as a phone book, u will end up wishing u bought something more approachable (that is the reason why i got davidson's, and not the recommended k&c).

**keiran91** · 18-09-2009, 05:40 PM

Ahhhh ok I've got you now, I have K&C and Gray's. I think I'm just ognit o wait until fresher's after all the talks or after the first week or something before I order any more books. Unless people would reccommend differently? Thanks for all the replies and stuff btw, very helpful.

**Frank E** · 18-09-2009, 08:31 PM

Kensei et al
Absolutely. An Eecellent and important point that a book has to work for the individual using it. I wouldn't know if the course team refer to sections of one book, or a selection of books as suggested reading for their next lecture, or just recommend to read ahead on a system and leave it to the individual to choose their sources?

I haven't compared Kumar and Clark with Davidson's and ii originally acquired Kumar and Clark because it was cheap in a second hand bookshop and my medical knowledge was limited and it looked quite comprehansive. I know if I looked at Davidson's I'd want it but don't have the £££ for a second clinical book

Kieran
No. Vander's and HPAIA are physiology books they explain how the different systems of the body work, largely in a healthy subject but may refer to a diseased system.

Macleods is a clinical examination text - it explains and illustrates how to examine patients in clinic i.e. how to take histories, visually inspect, palpate, percuss, auscultate, manipulate etc. It was on my wish list anyway though i thought it would be used later.
One can learn all that texts throw at you about physiology, clinical medicine, disease but if one can't examine a patient that learning loses most of it's value in clinc.

Kumar and Clark is a detailed clinical text, which covers so much ground I'd be struggling to summarise it, mainly due to not having read it cover to cover. Clinical Medicine explains the aetiology, physiology, diagnosis and management of diseases and conditions. In some chapters eg Renal Kumar and Clark do describe healthy physiology of the system, though it shouldn't be used as a physiology text.

The organisation and layout are fantastic in my opinion, with a good ratio of visual to text information by way of MRI , ultrasound, x-ray scans, photographs tables, graphs, flowcharts electronmicrographs, anatomical illustrations, fundoscpy images, overview boxes, It would assume you know how to percuss, palpate, manipulate, auscultate, poke and prod etc, It has a section on clinical examination (5th ed), which doesn’t have much illustration but this may have been added to in subsequent editions.

For example chapter 2 Infectious Diseases, tropical medicine and STDs chapter is one of the longest and, for me, one of the more interesting chapters as I have a strong interest in micobiology.

The chapter starts with an introduction tabling the mortalities of IDs, taxonomises infectious disease agents then tabulates and discusses the infectious diseases, their agents, hosts and vectors. It then has a wee subsection on the pathogenisis and mechanism of infection eg how agents attach or colonise.

Approach to the patient with a suspected ID tells what to take for a history, where and what to examine, serology and microbial tests to psossibly order, when indicated (in terms of history and disease signs) .

The next subsection Antimicrobial Therapy outlines the principles of antibiotic use (bactericidal and bacteriostatic), an overview of their mechanisms of action and resistances known.
Antibacterial Drugs subsection requires some biochem to fully understand. it provides the Structure, Mechanism of action, Indications, Interactions, Resistance and Toxicity for different classes of antibiotic eg macrolides, cephalosporins (though at this point K&C hasn't tabulated the bacteria, their shape, colonisation strategy or staining characteristics.
Similarly Antifungal Agents and Antiviral Agents classify and discuss chemotherapies for fungi and viruses.

Viral Infections an introduction classifies (using the LHT system) the majority of virus families - Adenovirus, Herpesvirus, poxvirus papovavirus groups (all RNA), Picornovirus, Reovirus Togavirus Bunyavirus Ortho- and Para- myxovirus, Rhabdovirus Retrovirus and Arenavirus (all DNA) groups. It discusses their clinical features, diagnosis and treatment taking a couple of common examples of each virus type, presenting photographs of signs here and there.

The 'Bacterial Infections' subsection is quite large (for a book that is an overview of clinical medicine) owing to the large number of different bacteria there are, running at 30 pages in the 5th ed. It initially classifies the bacteria. As they are generally tropic to certain tissue the subsections classify the infections, sites and common bacterial pathogens affecting those sites followed by a paragraph or two on some diseases and a half page or so for other diseases discussing their clinical features diagnosis (prevention where appropriate) and treatment.

Four pages on Fungal Infections discuss systemic, localised and superficial infections from common and not so common fungal pathogens.

Protozoal Infections details the epidemiology, parasitology, pathogenisis, clinical features, diagnosis, management and prevention of protozoal disease such as Malaria, Trypanosomiasis, Leishmaniasis, Giardiasis, Toxo and Crypto. And Helminithis Infections disease caused by works, larvae flukes such Schistosomiasis

I think the Institute of Medical Sciences at Aberdeen University is considered rather a centre of excellence in microbiology research.

Sexually Transmitted Infections section discusses epidemiology, parasitology, pathogenisis, clinical features, diagnosis, management and prevention of STIs, with HIV, AIDS and Opportunistic Infections having it's own chapter.

There are many tables interspersed throughout the chapter, with tables provided the majority of non-narrative information. Tabulated data ususlly means a lot of memory work. Other graphics are flowcharts of pathogeneses and disease, management plans, photographs.

Looking at this chapter alone K&C presents everything in a concise manner, I haven't read that much more about infectious disease in specialist ID books aimed at medics on their rotations and practising GPs. Specialist microbiology books would give coverage of a broader spectrum of pathogen, a little more on the assays, their principles of operation and their sensitivity and specificity characteristics. K&C is more than enough to be getting on with in this subject area for now and still a great deal to integrate. It may not be the easiest text to integrate.

Considering each chapter is a specialism on it's own, worthy of weightier tomes for those specialising, K&Cs' Clinical Medicine presents far more than a primer of the specialities in clinical medicine. I'm not sure if, for instance, practising GPs, would use regularly use half of the information contained within Clinical Medicine.

It is certainly not light reading and like all books it's subject to the reader's preferences.
For my needs I find it well structured, clear and concise and most importantly comprehensive,possibly more a reference than a day to day study text.

With the new integrated course format, as it looks like you will be studying disease from the outset, I think you’d be making reference to a clinical medicine text early on. Perhaps play it by ear though the first few weeks, see if they are using the 7th edition of K&C or if you can select your own sources for personal study e.g. Davidson's, how many copies are in the library and heavy demand.

Kieran, This is not intended as a review, a recommendation or otherwise. It was just to give a picture of what it contains.

I'd advise using a few different texts and seeing what works for you. Throughout this site you'll read all sorts of opinions on texts so the take home conclusion, as Kensei states is to try different texts (also audio, video, poster, models -one's just gotta do what one's gotta do) and stick with those sources you find useable and you can learn from.

I'd suggest investing in a bag with rollers for the sake of your back. ;-)

**Leo2004** · 19-09-2009, 01:41 AM

Hey guys,

I realise I'm kind of gate-crashing your med-school specific forum, but I read the whole thread with interest, so please excuse my general comments...

On the issue with reading before med school: by all means do it if you are interested and fired up about the course starting. It will be interesting, but the mill of the pre-clinical years and actually being taught/engaging in a group with some of the science will make it more understandable/put it more into context. Also, don't expect to remember anything you read in the summer of year one or if you do, it may not be targetted to the exam questions.

On the issue of (clinical) science books: there are loads of med focussed/more detailed books out there on all the basic sciences/clinical disciplines, which are very interesting.
The ones mentioned by and large here are standards at various med schools afaik. Have a look at what's around in the library for a taste of how each is written. I find the key to
remembering more/enjoying the actual process of committing info to memory more was getting texts you like the tone of. This also matters at exam time, where knowing the brief cram type texts which include all useful clinically relevant info or the key basic science facts is the key to a more enjoyable run up to exams, and hopefully better marks, if enough facts/principles are retained.

On anatomy: There are lots of good anatomy textbooks cum atlases, as opined here. Again have a look at those available and choose your favourite. Acland's is great, he is also a true character. The specimens used I feel look more similar to surgical anatomy than the embalmed cadavers in DRs. If you want an atlas of similar very well taken fotos of beautifully disected specimens with similar qualities to those in Aclands, you could always take a look at "The Color Atlas of Anatomy: A Photographic Study of the Human Body" by Rohen et al to buy from the web for about £39.

Best of luck in finding books to enthuse and enthrall you and best of luck in your studies!