2nd Year Courses

Cardiovascular and Pulmonary (CVP)
First and foremost: Believe. Learn the high yield stuff before you get bogged down with the details with this course. This will make the course more digestible as well as give you structure for the boards and future studies. CVP will start out slowly…do not extend your summer vacation. Learn the material along the course time line as this will also make the details and concepts much easier to understand. You are covering a lot more material and the concepts are a little more complicated.

Exams
2 Exams: ​
 * Cardio focused Midterm
 * Pulm focused Final: This test will be the hardest that you have taken in med school so far, but know that it is hard for everyone and not just you.
 * ​There is a ton of math on the Pulmonary test. Know your equations and normal values off the top of your head and you will do great. The pulmonary part of the course has a larger focus on pathology than the cardio section, be sure not to concentrate only on physiology.

Difficulty
As usual, lectures and ppts are the most high-yield. In previous years many of the cardio lectures were direct reproductions of Baker’s text. Scribes are great, but make sure you are paying attention in lectures. Sometimes thing are left out of scribes that you should know.

Books
Cardio: Pulm
 * Dr. Baker’s Cardio Book/CD – An absolute must. This book is very well done and straight forward. I would recommend going through it at least twice before the cardio exam.
 * Lilly’s Path – Definitely a good book but not necessary to read the whole thing. There are a few chapters that are worth reading like murmurs and a few others. Good resource for PBL.
 * Dubin’s Rapid EKG – Not recommended. It has way too much detail and they only test you on the basics.
 * Robbins – You should already have this book. Use it for lab, pbl, and to clear up any confusion.
 * BRS Physiology – Highly recommended if you don't already own it. You can use it for all your classes throughout second year. Go through it about a week before your exam. The section on cardio is about 30 pages and it will go quickly and presents everything in a clear format. Keep in mind that it is a review book and will not cover the material in the depth or breadth needed for this class or boards.
 * Goljan’s Rapid Review Path – Great book if you have time. Definitely not a must read but there are some great pictures in there and a few more things that weren’t covered in lecture that can be useful for step 1. Great for all your other classes too.
 * First Aid
 * You should definitely start using first aid with all your courses. It is a great tool during PBL and is a great review before your exam. Try to go through BRS Physiology and then the cardio section in First Aid about 1 week prior to your exam. Use First Aid as a supplement, ONLY to fill in a disease presentation, diagnosis, etc. not covered in class. Provides helpful mnemonics & memory tricks. The course material for CVP should give you the tools to actually make corrections in 1st aid.
 * There is going to be information that is covered in class that isn’t in first aid. Go ahead and write down anything you feel is high yield or that you want to remember but don’t get bogged down with details.
 * There is going to be stuff in FA that wasn’t covered in class. You don’t really need to worry about this stuff for your test but try to learn it and make sure you understand it because it will come up later.
 * Beachey – Don’t buy this book, don’t read it. It is not helpful and not worth your time.
 * Dr. Baker’s Pulm Book – Decent book but not as good as the cardio one and not as crucial either. There are a few mistakes in this book as well so be on the lookout. A suggestion is to read this book before lecture and to use it to clarify any unclear physiology concepts from lectures.
 * Lange Pulmonary Phys – Great book but try not to get bogged down with some of the minutia.
 * West’s Respiratory Physiology - A concise option but don’t worry about details that do not show up in lecture.
 * Robbins – Same as for cardio.
 * BRS Phys – Same as for cardio.
 * Goljan – Same as for cardio
 * First Aid – Same as for cardio.
 * Dr. Valentine gives a lecture at the very end of the class on interstitial lung diseases that is very hard to follow and is very long. Unfortunately, it is definitely high yield. There will be these really long convoluted questions at the end of the pulm exam that are from those lectures.

Lab
Some of the things in lab won’t show up in lecture, but that doesn’t mean it's not important. Pay attention and take notes on the ppt – it will make reviewing for the test much, much easier. It is really easy to slack off during labs – don’t do it. Read the Robbins reading before lab – the quizzes will come directly from these so if you read it (and pay attention while you read it), you’ll be fine. WEB PATH – Definitely go through web path. The pictures and explanations on web path a great and sometimes the pictures on you test come right from here.


 * http://ar.utmb.edu/webpath/webpath.htm#menu


 * http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/webpath.html

High Yield Material

 * Baker book/CD, ppts, and scribes.
 * In previous years, the test was about 50/50 Baker textbook and scribes so don’t just study one - study both.
 * Know your murmurs and the cardiac cycle for your CVP test and your POM test.
 * Web Path
 * Get to know the Cardiac Cycle Diagram that is on the back cover of Dr. Baker’s textbook and refer back to it when you’re studying pressure-volume curves, heart murmurs, heart sounds, etc. (Very high yield on boards.)
 * Goljan – A great way to just sit back and listen about a week before your test. There are about 4 lectures on cardio at 50 minutes each and you can speed them up to if you know how. Just listen make sure you understand and then jot a few things into your FA.
 * Know all your formula’s and normal values off the top of your head.