Nuke-

Is this the book to use in ortho? If you or anyone else can comment on this book I would appreciate it. Thanks for the heads up on the price.

Capeman

The book is probably a little too dense to read during an ortho rotation, but it is a great reference and a great resource to read over the course of your fourth year and intern year. It will give you a solid foundation for second year. This is a great deal. I already dropped $100 on it a couple months ago.

Excellent book! I started reading this book as an MS4 and the goal is to finish it during my intern year. Excellent read. Good pearls distributed within reading. Questions at the ends of the chapters. The basic science chapters at the beginning are very well written so even a bonehead like me can understand.

I recently used this book to review general orthopedics during my first year in practice. I found that it provides a nice core knowledge of orthopedics and helped stimulate some basic information that got pushed a side during my fellowship. I would suggest that everyone read this book during their PGI year (it will give you something to do while you wait for admissions on the medicine service). If you do, you will be well ahead of your peers.

What fellowship did you finish? Can you comment on how the written and oral boards work for someone who does a fellowship?

I got Baratz as a graduation gift right before I started my internship a couple of months ago. I find parts of it to be excellent, but it is pretty dense in some sections and relies on pretty extensive past knowledge. The figures can be hard to follow with too superficial of captions. Overall I think it is a good book for interns, but I've found OKU 7 to be at least as good, if not better (however I've read only one section of OKU).

The OKU series are designed to be update books that sum up the literature and current trends. They are great books to help keep current and also to read just before the OITE.

Fellowship: Sports medicine and arthroscopy

Boards-wise: If you do a fellowship, you still take your written boards at the completion of your resideny usually about the 3rd week of July. Your fellowship will begin on August 1st (in most cases). You then take your oral boards after you have been in practice for almost two years. You take it one year later than your peers who did not seek a fellowship.

Orhtodoc,
Could you elaborate more on the Oral Boards? Is it true that you have to be in practice for a full year before you start collecting the 12 cases that you would take to the oral boards? That has been my understanding but I may be wrong. Also, can the cases be from out of the country just as long as you did them? Or do they have to occur in some JCAHO-approved facility, etc.? I have been considering missionary medicine after residency for perhaps two years and do the case collection there and come back to the states for the oral boards. Thanks.

Here is a paragraph from their web site at http://www.abos.org

Potential applicants who have passed Part I must be continuously and actively in the practice of orthopaedic surgery in the United States, its territories, Canada or a U.S service installation for 22 months immediately prior to the examination. Of the 22 months, twelve consecutive months must be in one location. Time spent in fellowships cannot be counted. They must also hold a full and unrestricted license to practice medicine in the U.S. or Canada, or be in full-time practice in the U.S Federal Government.

Sounds like what you want to do may not work out. You can always do your missionary and come back and start private practice and then take the orals. The only catch is you must take and pass Part II within five years of passing Part I, otherwise you have to repeat Part I again. I would not want to repeat Part I again, especially several years after residency.

OrthoDoc,

Thank you for the info.