Infectious Disease

As the internal medicine resident prepares for the difficult task of learning such a broad range of material that encompasses the specialty over 3 years, repetition becomes crucial for the retaining of knowledge. The first “prescription” for internal medicine residents that I work with in this preparation in our program is for selecting a specialty topic per month to devote a large amount of study time over that month and for that month to be the same in each of the 3 years. This strategy allows that internal medicine resident to focus on each specialty topic consistently every year for 3 years. An example would be to review allergy and immunology as the topic for July which is the first specialty by alphabet but fits nicely in July given the material is not as voluminous as the other 11 specialty topics and July tends to be a month of transition for internal medicine residents whether it is the first month of residency for interns or the first month as a senior level resident in the second year. The format of this section is done in A– Z manner so as to help keep the reader engaged and to help with recall of facts in a much easier fashion. An example from the allergy section is from the F letter which leads to fleeting infiltrates headliner that then leads to allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis being tied into that phenomenon of that ever-changing radiographic pattern. The 26 pearls or set of pearls for each letter of the alphabet set the stage for the internal medicine resident to pick up on necessary knowledge within that specialty topic in a consistent fashion every year for 3 years such that no stone is left unturned and encourages residents to further read for supplementation on the pearls that are given for each letter.