Pediatric Board Study Guide: A Last Minute Review Paperback – January 1, 2015

Am studying for my rectification. Am finding this is the only study source I'm using that help me keep things in my head. (If I don't pass it will be because I didn't spend enough time studying not the fault of the book.)Other study sources I'm using:1) 3 years of PREP questions: the long paragraph explanations with those questions make my eyes glaze over. Plus, it is better to be able to, as this book does, compare/contrast the similar conditions that will be among the answer choices.2) MedStudy flashcards: Are a bit too simplistic and doe not give the level of detail on the conditions. Not sure they are worth paying twice as much money for 1/4 as much info -- this study guide book seems a more comprehensive source. But the flashcards are easy to grab a bunch of and throw in my purse or bag3) Cleveland Clinic Intensive Review of Pediatrics: Am realizing that purchase may have been the least useful in context of other study aids. Using that one the least as am prioritizing doing PREP questions instead.Positive:-There are many decision trees/algorithms to help you differentiate similar diseases/conditions and think through appropriate next test (e.g. metabolic disease diagnosis and process of elimination)-There are tables for a quick review of the list of disease or compare/contrast of two or more related diseases (CD vs UC, or night terror vs nightmare, poisoning substance and matched antidotes, conditions that could be mistaken for ADHD, etc)-I'm recognizing, in bullet points, the same things in the PREP explanations, but in a much more accessible and easier to memorize format(When I go back to redo a PREP question I got wrong, I can't remember the right answer from the description. But if, after getting a PREP question wrong, I go to the same section in this book, I remember what I was supposed to have learned.)-Last few pages has a "Last minute review" that describes the likely clinical scenario for each disease -- wish this were a booklet that could be separated from book to carry for quick and easy review-Has a good number of pictures which are pretty good quality-Has EKGs, x-rays, histology pictures, diagrams (like various salter harris fractures), etc.-The text is clear, concise, easy to read, well organized.-Reviews pathophysiology that the PREP questions seem to askNegative: None really except, maybe:Not a small or light book so not easy to carry around to read on the subway.

I just passed the board re-certification. I took the boards after residency and now have re-certified twice since then. I have been doing outpatient peds for the last 10 years, and prior to that also did inpatient. So my clinical experience is generally all outpatient at this point.I am not a fan of MOC at all. I use up-to-date daily in clinical practice. I don't read journals or textbooks anymore. I did not do any PREP questions or reviews. I did not take a board course. I studied alone.I was procrastinating and bought this book in October. I didn't crack it open until Mid-November. This was the only resource I used to study.I did, occasionally, double check things on wikipedia, but honestly, I only used this book.How much did I study? I read through the book, cover to cover, once. Yes, one time. Then in the back is a section called "last-minute review". It's brief and hits the highlights of each chapter. I read through this part twice. That's it.One might think 5-stars are due because I passed, but there are some errors that need correction in the book.Pros:1. The material in the book IS on the exam. Some of the items I would not have thought to study are there and it helped. So in respect to breadth, the book covers enough.2. That last 10-15 pages that are the "Last Minute Review". Those are great.3. I passed.Cons:1. Incorrect information. Example - Athrogryposis. Dr Naga lists one of the risk factors as Polyhydramnios which is incorrect. It's anything that restricts movement, so it should be Oligohydramnios. I have seen this in practice so I knew it was wrong in the book. What worries me is that there were other mistakes that I had to trust the book on because the syndrome or topic is more obscure.2. Dr Naga's grammer in the book is often poorly constructed. Example - He constantly uses "specially" in place of "especially'. Ex: "The diagnosis of asthma should be considered, specially when the patient has pre-existing atopic disease". This might be a minor issue, but this single error happens multiple times throughout the book. In addition there are other simple sentence constructs that make no sense, so you end up unintentionally focusing on the grammatical errors rather than the information you're reading about.In the end, Dr Naga should get a real editor for the book. First for grammer and second to look at the content and ensure it is correct.I realize I probably made my own errors in my review, but I am not publishing it professionally or asking you to pay for it.All told, this was a very good resource for preparing for re-certification and despite some areas to improve I would recommend it.

This book's author, Osama Naga, has also recorded a set of videos (free on YouTube). In each video, he lectures through a section of this book. The lectures are not flashy (powerpoint slides), but they are a fast, comprehensive review for those of us who just need a refresher. The videos are easy to watch & fast-moving. They do include some material -- mostly in his side comments -- that is not in the text. I stumbled on the lectures after I bought this book & found that this book serves as lecture notes for the series. I don't know this doc, but he has put a ton of effort into this review series. If you're going to watch the lectures, I would encourage you to buy the book to support him, too.