Reviewer: Vincent F Carr, DO, MSA, FACC, FACP(Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences)
Description: This is one of many books available from teaching programs that review the essential internal medicine facts that housestaff need to know; this one is from the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Purpose: "Each medical center must ensure that students at whatever level in their training are adequately familiar with the specialty. "
Audience: The audience appears to be medical students and those in the residency training programs, but it also is a very good book for attending physicians who want a quick reference or are residency trainers who want to have a consistent terminology during teaching rounds.
Features: The book is divided in the usual fashion by organ systems and then by specific topics. Information is presented using a bulleted format, eliminating the extraneous very well. Each section has a number of USMLE-type questions for review. The book notes that there is a companion website with the full text, an interactive question bank, and supplemental content, figures, and tables indicated by icons in the print version. However, I was unable to access these features at the website. This is a problem with the publisher's website, rather than with the authors and content.
Assessment: This is one of a large number of medicine review books and there is no reason to single this one out. It does have its place for teaching purposes at University of Maryland, but it is no better or worse than the other available medicine review books on the market.