To buy or not to buy is the question! It’s always the same on starting a new chapter in your education, but never more so than on starting medical school – the content you cover and the level of learning you complete is massive and as such its often met with people questioning whether to invest in text books or not.
Thats where I am hoping to help – in this blog I am going to provide a quick run through of the books that I recommend for all medical students to invest in…
1. ‘Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary’
OMG this has been my saving grace and the best book I have every been gifted (thank you MDU)!! Most students will get this given to them on signing up to the MDU during Freshers week, and all I can say is ‘THANK GOODNESS’. This book has literally all the definitions you needs as a first year medical student in the most concise way – I use this religiously during my PBL cases and honestly could not live without!!
10/10
2. ‘Gray’s Anatomy for Students’
More on the pricier side, but worth it for all your anatomy needs. On starting medical school, for me the anatomy was the most difficult aspect, but with this at my side I was able to get to grips with even the most difficult of concepts. The only issue I have with this, is that sometimes it can be too wordy and hence I do sometimes turn to online sources to quickly understand something or be able to clearly and easily locate a muscle.
8/10
3. ‘Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine’
I haven’t used this too much as of yet, but I know that it will come very much in handy over the coming years as a medical student and beyond. This little book is filled to the brim with every aspect of clinical medicine you could ever need, plus handy dose frequency charts, early warning scores and biochemical values which will prove handy in clinical years when taking bloods and analysing results. While this book has not yet been too used in my PBL cases and year 1 learning, I am increasingly turning to it as a source of information on certain conditions and I know this will only increase as I enter my clinical years.
9/10
4. ‘The Top 100 Drugs’
This is the newest book which I have invested in following recommendation from a friend and OMG this is the best thing since sliced bread. Although it is not an extensive list of all drug classes, it includes details on all the ones we learn about in first year, and has a very easy interface to find key details on each class and subclass of key drugs given to patients routinely.
10/10
While this blog is relatively short and may not prove useful to many people, I am hoping that at least one person will get something from this which makes their first year at medical school that bit easier.
There are many more books out there which help hugely with medical studies, and I am not sponsored by any of the ones mentioned above. I have simply provided a small list of those I cannot live without as a means to provide some help to those beginning their adventure of a lifetime.
Stay safe and stay inside,
H. xx
dreamsofamedic.com 
Great read!
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