Despite some important limitations, this is probably one of the best internal medicine review books in existence.
The book is loaded with essential and hard-to-find charts, lists, tips and Board review questions. For example, on page 289 there is a table devoted to the mimics of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The table provides essential clinical vignettes, along with pertinent radiologic and laboratory findings. This information is very useful because IPF itself is incurable. It is therefore important to be able to identify IPF mimickers, which are sometimes treatable. Glomerulonephritis, biliary disease, dementia and many other conditions are similarly well-treated.
The book tells you what to “do” and which answers to select on the American Board of Internal Medicine Certification (or Maintenance of Certification) Exam. In fact, there are many charts based on the “if you see this… do that” theme. This is a very helpful way to prepare to answer questions and make decisions under time pressure. In addition, the “Don’t Be Tricked” sections are extremely useful. They identify wrong answer choices (“decoys”) and tell you which answers not to choose on the test.
The book has some noteworthy limitations. There is no index and some topics are surprisingly curt. For example, there is no guidance on the management of acute heart failure, and the role of electrocardiography in the evaluation of patients with syncope is distilled to a vague sentence and a half. (“ECG: Done in all cases. The finding of an arrhythmia and conduction block may establish the diagnosis, but a normal ECG does not rule out a cardiac etiology.” Page 136) Outright errors are very few and far between, which is a remarkable achievement for a Board review book with this level of detail and depth. I read through most of the book, and I managed to find only one mistake. (On page 267, the binge eating/purging subtype of anorexia nervosa is incorrectly conflated with bulimia nervosa.)
Overall, Board Basics 3 by the American College of Physicians is an exceptional Board review book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is preparing for the Internal Medicine Boards. It may very well be, as the authors claim, “the best Board prep tool that you will find anywhere.”
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