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Recommended medical journals?

alablonde

I've recently been to quite a few sixth form interviews as well as going on some medical courses and on all occasions I have been given the advice to use my love for reading to my advantage by starting to read medical journals. However I have no idea where to start as in where to find them and what's best to read. So here I'm looking for recommendations for what to start reading etc.

All suggestions will be welcomed, thanks :smile:

Reply 1

cnacram

Well, actually you can find your reading resources online. Use your love for reading and your browsing skills. I am sure you can find them.
If you search via google using the terms that you wanna read, I'm pretty sure they'll come out.

Reply 2

Democracy

Original post by alablonde

So you're in year 11? You won't have a clue about what you'll be reading - journals are aimed at current medics, so it'll be a serious waste of your time.

If you want to stay up to date with what's going on in the NHS and the latest developments, BBC Health is really good:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health/

Most journals aren't open access btw - you'll need an NHS/university log-in to be able to access the articles.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 3

alablonde

Thanks for the help - I just didn't know what to really do. I'd done a lot of stuff with medical non-adherence with patients and Parkinson's disease but that was really then extent of it so I'll definitely check out the BBC.

Reply 4

Democracy

Original post by alablonde

Yeah BBC Health is fine, it'll give you a good overview of things without getting too jargon-y.

Who was it who told you you should be reading medical journals, out of interest?

Reply 5

alablonde

First I went on a course in Leeds that was run by graduates and they said I should start and then so did the heads of the science departments which interviewed me. Some of my science teachers also mentioned it to me so I thought I should pursue it further just in case it was a viable option.

Reply 6

Democracy

Original post by alablonde

Very odd advice.

Teachers, gotta love 'em - when they're not telling students they need to do maths A level to get into med school they're telling them to read the BMJ...

Reply 7

Zorg

If by journals we're talking primary research pieces they're really aimed at researchers or those with a very strong rooting in research methods.

You'd be better placed to read news articles relating to healthcare and perhaps the BMA and Student BMJ.

Reply 8

Okorange

You really likely won't understand articles, I didn't understand what I was reading until 2nd year really. Just read BBC Health like the posters above said. You could try http://www.2minutemedicine.com/ but even that is aimed at medics. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/ is another option.

If you want to know the big medical journals they are NEJM, JAMA, Lancet, BMJ and the big science journals are Nature, Science and Cell.