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Block 6 Resources

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This block is one of the “easier” blocks of second year, and block 6’s KBE had the highest average of any KBE for our class. This block is all about cardiovascular, pulmonary, and hematologic pathology.

Resources

For PBL

  • Basic Knowledge
    • Pathoma: This was the most used resource by our class for all of second year. Chapters 5-9 cover block 6’s material! Pay attention to the differences in types of lung cancer and what paraneoplastic syndromes go with each type of lung cancer. Be able to differentiate between TTP, ITP, and HUS. Know the types of leukemia, what mutation causes them, and if they have certain findings on a slide, be able to pick it up. Understand the nephritic vs nephrotic syndrome and different types of those. There is a great section in Pathoma! These are some of the important topics this block and for Step. 
    • Sketchy Pharm: definitely don’t get behind on drugs this block! It can be pretty heavy, as you’ll have to learn antihypertensives, diuretics, antiarrhythmics, other heart failure drugs, antineoplastics for heme/onc, and some autonomic drugs. Knowing adverse effects is almost as important as knowing the mechanism of action of these medications. 
    • Boards and Beyond and First Aid can be helpful especially for reviewing normal physiology of the heart and lungs, as this block is a great time to brush up on that knowledge for STEP. Some topics you might want to review are pulmonary function tests, heart murmurs, and congenital heart defects. 
    • Lectures: lecture material is emphasized a fair bit so at least take a glance over the slides if you have time. Some of the heme/onc lectures get a bit in the weeds so try to not get overwhelmed with those. The shock lecture is useful for this block’s content and Step 1. You want to be able to look at the variables from a Swan Ganz catheter and have an idea of the etiology of their shock. B&B also has a shock video if the lecture isn’t it for you. Interstitial lung disease is a confusing topic, and there is a lecture over it; however, Dr. Frazier also covers it, and I think her perspective was a lot easier to understand. The nephrotic and nephritic kidney disease path lecture is important to understand. 
  • Practice Questions
    • AMBOSS or USMLE Rx or MedBullets: do as many practice questions related to block topics as you can! They’re extremely helpful for reinforcing knowledge and boards prep. AMBOSS is a great place to test yourself on pharmacology. Our class mostly used AMBOSS questions or UWorld.
    • UWorld: most people would recommend saving UWorld for the beginning of block 7, but these can also be helpful for this block’s content. If you start UWorld this block, do questions from topics that are covered this block. If you are thinking of taking Step in March, this is a good time to start UWorld for these organ systems if you would like. 

For IPC:

  • Lectures – this block’s IPC was very lecture heavy, so make sure you are staying on top of lecture content. 
  • Assigned readings – some of our questions did come from the readings assigned every week, so make sure you have a general understanding of the most important readings!!
  • First Aid – great reference for psychiatric and public health principles for STEP, but lectures will have you covered for the exam.
  • Boards and Beyond – The psychiatry section of boards and beyond has some great videos that cover important topics for this exam like personality disorders. I don’t think these are necessary if you feel like you have a solid understanding from lecture, but these can be useful if you want a review of it. 

General Advice

  1. Even though this block has an extremely low failure rate, don’t ease up on studying!
  2. Know the treatments for heart failure extremely well – make sure whoever gets this PBL objective knows that it’s super important!
  3. Don’t forget to study the path labs and pay attention to Dr. Frazier’s lectures/help sessions – she’ll tell you everything you need to know for the path section and will prepare you well for STEP!!! Make sure that you know key gene mutations or recognizable path findings like Auer rods. Help sessions are also fair game for the path portion so be sure you watch those or make them an objective. 
  4. Don’t forget to review normal physiology of heart, lungs, and kidney. 
  5. Dr. Campbell’s psych pharm lectures are amazing – pay attention to these! He tells you everything you need to know for the IPC exam and STEP prep. Make sure that you don’t only know mechanism of action and indications but also what side effects to watch out for. 
    1. Don’t forget to study drugs from other lectures though! It’s important to know drugs like naloxone, naltrexone, buprenorphine, etc. You want to understand when each of these drugs is utilized in opiate use disorder and alcohol use disorder. Dr. Buffalo gives a lecture that explains this really well. 
  6. Unfortunately, Block 5 was not the end of EKG content. Dr. Dohrmann does an EKG workshop this block. Be sure you are comfortable with those rhythms and can identify them. 
  7. This block is when you start getting emails about M3 orientation and training requirements so just be sure to read those and keep up with deadlines. The VA training might be due before winter holidays so look out for that info.