Case Files Family Medicine, Third Edition (LANGE Case Files)

I think it was the best book out there for the Family Med NBME exam. The one thing that either I didn't get to or was not in the book was more topics related to men who have sex with men. Normally most review books would put this in the category of HIV infections or opportunistic infections related to an HIV infection but apparently there is more preventive health measures related to that topic, which I was not expecting nor experienced in my clerkship. Also as everyone else has mentioned there have been some changes to some guidelines such as no longer doing a Pap in woman under 21 y.o. even if they are sexually active, which is not reflected in the book because the book was published before the changes. I gave this a 4 start instead of a 5 because like I said it did not cover the topic of MSM and it would have been nice to have pictures in the dermatology section. Other than that the book is still really relevant and most of the guidelines are the same to the point that I don't think the book will steer you completely wrong if you miss a subtle detail in the guideline changes. I used pretest and UWorld for all my other exams but since the reviews for pretest fam med were not as high as this and there is no specific fam med questions in UWorld I chose this as my main study source and it was good. Also if you completed the other NBMEs before this exam that also helps a lot.

This series continues to impress me with regard to preparation for NBME Shelf exams. Thus far I have read this in addition to surgery and pediatrics. Family Medicine is quite a broad topic and impossible to thoroughly cover in any review book however what we are all looking for is a book that consolidates this vast amount of information into a doable task over the course of a short rotations (4 weeks in my case). I initially failed this shelf exam after poor preparation not taking it seriously. On retake I used this book exclusively and got an 88. If you are not familiar with the series it presents clinical cases in each chapter, important definitions, clinical approach to the specified condition, testing, relative basic science involved in the understanding of the disease in question, treatment, valuable review questions (both at the end of each case and comprehensive review at the back of the book), and other considerations (for example primary, secondary, and tertiary preventative strategies for disease).This book is 586 pages (of case content) in 60 high yield cases. That seems like a lengthy book to read in 4 weeks but the print is large and many pages are not full of text (i.e question pages, diagrams, blank pages in between cases). I am a very slow reader and completed it in 2 weeks. I spent an additional week reviewing highlighted concepts.I find this series superior the blueprints in many respects, however if you learn best by long explanations or need a better more thorough description of the "why" part of medicine then this is probably not the best series for you. In that case consider a traditional text or blueprints if you are pressed for time.

Note: my school does not require a shelf exam for FP so my review is solely based on wanting to read something while I was rotating. I have no idea how good/bad it is for exam purposes.I'm almost done with all my rotations and have used this series for most subjects except psych. Every single one was excellent as a 'major points you need to know'; especially obgyn and IM. Those books were quick reads, lean, and get the point across of a major concept in 4-6 pages. This book, as a whole is bigger and denser than those and on average cases are 2 pages longer. While it may seem nit-picky, those 2 additional pages are usually walls of text that have information that's not entirely important; easily summed up in 1-2 paragraphs. For example, in one case I remember it went in detail on how different states handled the same situation...who cares? Interesting to know, but not useful information.The other books I read were always in my coat pocket, and if I had 15 minutes or so of free time I could easily read a case. With very few exceptions, no case took longer than 10-15 minutes to read. That's not really the case with this because of the additional length.Here's my opinion: If FP is your very first rotation (or one of your first and you haven't done IM yet) then this is probably a good book to look at as it covers major concepts in almost every field. It focuses heavily on preventative medicine which is the type of questions I've felt I got pimped on the most in my rotations.If you're deep into rotations: Don't bother. All that preventative stuff was already covered in your rotations (and books you've studied) and there isn't anything necessarily new.

I am a FNP student. I have found it hard to sit down and just study pathology in text books with my free time. When I first got this case study book I expected more of working through a specific case study with different questions as options or such. However the case study is brief, then it goes into differentials and most probable diagnosis and very general additional diagnostics or treatment. For example treatment would be an antibiotic, muscle relaxants but not specifics. It then goes into a summary of back pain in general: prevalence, causes. It then goes into a good explanation of each differential. Back strain, lesion, spondylosis, etc. Then red flags are given as signs and symptoms indicative of a need to be more aggressive with imaging etc.This book is very much like how I am being precepted. I am learning how to think or approach these general complaints. It definitely helps if you are actively seeing patients. The sections are short which is another reason I have come to really love this book. For example I can just work through one case study if tired in 30 minutes. It facilitates picking the book up frequently and is very readable. I plan on ordering more of these style books.

As a Cdn I wish they had provided metric units as a reference.the cases provided are an excellent adjunct to study.

Informative.