Resources For Medical Students
This is by no means a complete collection of resources, but hopefully, you’ll be able to find something that helps you in here!
(Mostly-)Free Online Resources
Online MedEd – Free, although if you want to be able to download the audio clips + notes associated with each video, there are paid options.
LearnersTV – A whole ton of medical video lectures on the basic sciences + clinical/physical exams!
American Academy of Family Physicians – Free!
Learning Radiology – Great resource for if you’re not very confident with your ability to read imaging studies, or want some extra practice!
Life In The Fast Lane – Awesome resource for anyone interested in critical care, emergency medicine, and toxicology. The ECG library is super helpful!
OrthoBullets – An educational resource technically geared toward orthopedic surgeons, but I like it a lot since it includes a lot of information on high-yield facts for trauma, sports medicine, anatomy, and imaging + pathology topics. (A sports medicine fellow recommended this to me when I told him I was interested in sports med!) Some parts require a sign-in, but a lot of information is available even without one!
MDCalc – Contains pretty much all the medical calculators you could possibly need (e.g. SIRS criteria, CHADS2 score, maintenance fluid calculations…).
Paid
Firecracker – One of the more affordable options for ongoing studying–has options for both pre-med and medical students! I discovered this toward the end of my 1st year in medical school.There are numerous topics that you flag and answer questions on, then rate based on how well you knew the answer, and it’ll ask you it again later (timeframe depends on how well you knew the answer).
If you manage to keep up with the questions, it helps immensely! I got overwhelmed while studying for boards and let it pile, but really shouldn’t have. There’s a free 1-week trial to see whether or not you like it.
Apps
We actually have an entire dedicated post for medical iPhone apps, so be sure to check that out! In the meantime, here are some that are worth a first or second mention!
Medscape – Free + available as an app! I love that you can download everything so that you don’t need an internet connection to access it! It provides medical journal articles, drug references, medical news, and quick quizzes
UpToDate – Available as an app!
Epocrates – My go-to drug guide…for pharmacology, mechanism of action, dosing, contraindications, adverse effects, etc.!
Canopy – Available on both iOS + Android! This is medical translator app that includes Arabic, Bengali (text only), Chinese Cantonese, Chinese Mandarin, Tagalog (text only), French, Haitian Creole (audio requires internet), Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malay (text only), Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese (audio requires internet)!
Set up where your medical facility is with the app and the interpreter phone number will automatically be added. You can also search different phrases in Anesthesia, Dentistry, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, Internal Medicine, OB/GYN, and Pediatrics!
De-Stressing
GomerBlog – This is basically like The Onion for those in the medical field, and pretty much never fails to make me laugh.
Awkward Yeti – Hilariously cute comics that are somewhat related to science (the Heart & Brain series), but mostly about social awkwardness. It’s wonderful.
What Should We Call Med School – Don’t worry, you’re not alone in your struggles!
