Best books and resources for the Surgery shelf and rotation 2024
We know that getting a consensus on the best books and resources for any given rotation can be difficult. Asking friends, searching SDN, and consulting seniors can provide a confusing mixed bag of advice.
Turns out, we've done the work for you. Compiled below are comprehensive recommendations on the best books and resources. Click here to find out how we ranked each resource as well as a description of the tiers used. Happy studying!
Highest Yield — The best surgery book for medical school
Dr. Pestana's Surgery Notes — Pestana
Pestana's is the shortest, high yield surgery book you will find for the surgery rotation and shelf. Dr. Pestana details different surgery pathology in quick, easy to read paragraphs. There are many accounts on SDN and Reddit where students have relayed how they only used this text in addition to UWorld to honor the shelf and the rotation. Small, light, and a quick read; you could easily read this text 2-3 times through the rotation just during downtime in between cases.
NMS Surgery Casebook — Jarrell & Strauch
Originally published in 2002, the time-tested NMS Surgery Casebook goes over different cases and case variations with vignettes and explanations. It is well laid out with black and white pictures and diagrams that detail the anatomy and concept behind different procedures. Think of it like a more mature Case Files text with more detail. Explanations are short and to the point with very little fluff and there are some practice questions as well. Also a must-have go-to surgery text.
Surgery: A Case Based Clinical Review — Virgilio, Frank & Grigorian
Similar to the NMS Casebook, Surgery: A Case Based Clinical Review begins with a vignette and then goes into the different aspects of the case using questions to communicate information; especially helpful are its notes on complications of pathology and surgery, as this is great question fodder. Unlike NMS, however, this text uses lengthier paragraphs to detail information as opposed to few quick sentences that NMS uses to answer its questions; it was also published much more recently—2015—with, our hope being, a case set and concepts tailored for the modern surgery paradigm. If you prefer a more textbook like feel with the connivence and ease of a vignette structured book, this is your text. This book also has practice questions.
Carlos Pestana's Surgery Review
A free outline created by Dr. Pestana with 324 vignettes with accompanying pathology and management. A great resource to speed read during the week before your surgery shelf.
Emma Ramahi's UTHSCSA High Yield Surgery Guide
Another one of Dr. Ramahi's quick review PDFs. Extremely high yield and another great resource to speed read before your surgery shelf.
Next Steps
NMS Surgery — Jarrell & Kavic
If you want a solid, surgery rotation textbook, look no further than the NMS Surgery Textbook. Written in a similar fashion as Step Up to Medicine's outline format, NMS Surgery Textbook organizes its material logically and, using whole paragraphs and detailed explanations, provides a comprehensive review of surgical pathology and management. Great as a secondary resource to better understand topics but by no means a high yield cram style book. If you are planning to go into surgery, a great resource to have on your bookshelf...especially approaching your surgery sub-I as a 4th year.
If you have time
Surgical Recall — Blackbourne
Surgical Recall may be somewhat helpful for the shelf exam but will definitely help you maintain your composure during the hours of pimping you will likely endure while holding retraction. Formats each page into two columns, the left column being a common pimp question and the right column being the correct answer. Read through pertinent chapter before each case and you should be alright.
Surgery PreTest Self-Assessment and Review — Kao & Lee
If you have already finished all of the UWorld surgery questions as well as questions seen in the other texts detailed, you could consider purchasing PreTest Surgery. However, it is plagued with a number of errors not suitable for a thirteenth edition. Its main question bank competitor, the Lange Q&A Surgery, suffers a similar problem. You would do much better reviewing your missed UWorld questions or combing through the practice questions found in the different review texts.