Physician-informed medical book reviews and clinical education resources.
Mark Yoffe, MD 
Here is a leading expert’s advice on how to protect yourself in the event of an Ebola outbreak: Do not travel to endemic areas. Avoid crowds: To the extent possible, stay at home. Do not go to cinemas or shows. Do not attend community meetings. Avoid healthcare facilities: emergencies excepted, avoid all hospitals, medical clinics, and doctors … Read more
Board review questions should have five elements (these are color coded to match the content of the sample question further below): The question: 1. The stem. The stem, usually a clinical scenario, is the content which the learner needs to be able absorb and synthesize in order to answer the question correctly. 2. “The Ask.” The ask, or … Read more
Step 1: First of all, make sure it’s really atopic dermatitis! Atopic dermatitis is a pruritic, immune-mediated skin condition that is common in all age groups, but is particularly common among infants, toddlers and small children. It is commonly called eczema by clinicians and laypersons alike. There are three different highly pruritic skin conditions that … Read more
Toxicology in a box is a pretty cool toxicology learning tool. The box contains 154 flashcards with classic and memorable drawings of important poisonings and toxidromes. On the reverse of each card, there is additional important information about sources, classic scenarios, signs/symptoms, mechanisms of action, treatment and clinical pearls.The cards are hilarious (sometimes!) and memorable. It’s really … Read more
The Bedside Dysmorphologist by Dr. William Reardon is a great book about diagnosing malformation syndromes at the bedside. It is only about 300 pages long, but it is packed with essential clinical pearls. Unlike other books in the field which break things down by syndromes, this book delves into the differential diagnosis based on clinical presentations. For example, … Read more
ECGs for the Emergency Physician 1 is basically an ECG teaching file with a good mix of clear-cut and more abstruse cases. Interpretations are provided by Dr. Amal Mattu who probably needs no introduction from me as one of the most influential ECG teachers of this generation. The clear typeface and crisp images are striking. … Read more
You can become good to excellent at dermatology with the aid of no more than three books: Andrews’ Diseases of the Skin: Clinical Dermatology, 11e (2011): this book is king when it comes to a profoundly medicine-based understanding of dermatology. I seldom, if ever, recommend textbooks – and this one is more than 1210 pages … Read more