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Prospective Medical Student - What Shall I Read?

I want to expand my knowledge in the healthcare sector but not sure what magazines to subscribe to?

Obviously there is New Scientist which is great but isn't really health care based.

Reply 1

lordpankake

Original post by 32908

I want to expand my knowledge in the healthcare sector but not sure what magazines to subscribe to?

Obviously there is New Scientist which is great but isn't really health care based.

British Medical Journal?

Reply 2

32908

Original post by lordpankake

British Medical Journal?

I thought that but do you think I should subscribe to the student version or adult?

Reply 3

EllieO

There was a Student room article a while ago that recommended 'The Selfish gene', I haven't read it my self but I thinks its one of those books on par with Darwin's 'Origin of Species'. Is that what you were looking for or more like magazines/articles? There are lots of articles available free on Google scholar you just have to type in a subject and loads of pdfs will come up.

Reply 4

Vodka

Original post by 32908

I thought that but do you think I should subscribe to the student version or adult?

I am subscribed to both online but if I can choose, I would choose theBMJ, and not the student version. It's slightly more expensive but there are way more content than the studentBMJ, with regular news stories, opinions, analyses, research papers etc. The studentBMJ is more relevant towards medical students who are undergoing clinical training in my opinion.

Reply 5

username944192

BMJ, JME if you can access it, Health Service Journal is really good.

Book wise - Bad Science and Bad Pharma are both great (anything by Ben Goldacre really) and I really enjoyed Do No Harm

Reply 6

Meera🦁

Really would recommend The Selfish Gene- I read it first when I was 15/16 and found it really easy to get into. And it's very interesting!

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 7

Helenia

There is really no need to spend money on subscriptions, especially to things like BMJ which is really not aimed at sixth formers. Reading BBC health etc and a few popular science books is plenty.

Reply 8

Democracy

Are the people on here who are suggesting the BMJ aware that it's a specialised medical journal and not a popular science magazine in the same league as New Scientist? :holmes:

Reply 9

Vodka

Original post by Democracy

Are the people on here who are suggesting the BMJ aware that it's a specialised medical journal and not a popular science magazine in the same league as New Scientist? :holmes:

I am fully aware of that. The reason I suggest subscribing to theBMJ online is because of the contents in their 'news and views' section which I think are pretty useful. From issues such as the sugar tax and e-cigs to the 7-day NHS and the Zika outbreak. The news coverage are much more comprehensive alongside with opinions and columns written by current doctors; all of which are very accessible to someone who has an interest in medicine. The willingness to pay for these extra information is another issue.

Edit: For the New Scientist, you'd be lucky to stumble upon a medical-related article larger than a 10cm x 5cm column.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 10

medstudent11

Book-wise:
1. Do no Harm by Henry Marsh
2. Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman - not a 100% medical related but it is a great book that will be helpful for medical decision making
3. the man who mistook his wife for a hat by Oliver Sacks

Reply 11

MonteCristo

I would suggest reading something routinely to keep abreast of health affairs, e.g. BBC Health, Guardian Health, etc. There are also lots of medical blogs around that might be worth following, e.g. www.kevinmd.com (US-based but often globally applicable), www.badscience.net (aimed at highlighting problems with biomedical research), http://more-distractible.org/musings, and www.badmed.net.

If you are on Twitter, it's worth following lots of doctors to see what people are talking about in the profession at the moment. You could create another account for this purpose if you don't want to drown out your usual Twitter contacts...

Otherwise, I would choose books that you enjoy reading rather than creating another chore for yourself.*One thing I love about medicine is that no knowledge is ever really wasted. If you want medicine-specific books: *

-Trust Me, I'm a (Junior) Doctor (Max Pemberton)
-Bedside Stories: Confessions of a Junior Doctor (Michael Foxton)
-In Stitches: The Highs and Lows of Life as an A&E Doctor (Nick Edwards)
-Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery (Henry Marsh)
-Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance (Atul Gawande)
-Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science (Atul Gawande)
-The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right (Atul Gawande)
-Bad Science (Ben Goldacre)
-I Think You'll Find It's a Bit More Complicated Than That (Ben Goldacre)

You should be able to download most of these cheaply as ebooks or request from your local library if on a budget.*You could also try to get into the series Getting On (on iTunes), which accurately depicts life in the NHS. The DVD series Cardiac Arrest (dated but still strangely relevant...) and Bodies are also insightful but easy to watch...

Reply 12

UniAdmissions

Original post by 32908

I want to expand my knowledge in the healthcare sector but not sure what magazines to subscribe to?

Obviously there is New Scientist which is great but isn't really health care based.

Hi 32908

How are you getting on with your reading material?

I know you wrote your post a little while a go so I imagine that you have already got started with some of the suggestions made by others, but I thought I might be able to throw a couple more into the mix for you to try. Here are three suggestions to be going on with:

1. Tomorrow’s Doctors by the GMC – especially the ‘Outcomes for graduates’ section

2. Medical Ethics: A Very Short Introduction by Tony Hope. OUP Oxford (2004).
3. Good Medical Practice by the GMC I hope that helps. Do give me a shout if you have any questions I can answer.

UniAdmissions