The PDA Application

Bookstein's Medical Student Pocket Reference PDA Edition is designed for all medical students, interns, and other trainees and physicians working on clinical services. It provides a streamlined well-organized source of clinically relevant medical information for your handheld device. The content includes concise discussions of 3000 diseases within all body systems. The application is a complete quick reference covering all areas of medicine, so you will never be without the answer.

The PDA edition features interlinked content, a comprehensive index, useful tables, classification systems, and databases.

Among the other features of Bookstein’s Medical Student Pocket Reference PDA Version are:

  • Consistency in organization: each disease is presented in a logical fashion, with epidemiology, diagnostic information, radiologic and pathologic information, and approaches to treatment.
  • Nonspecific clinical presentations with focus on diagnostic workup and differential diagnoses.
  • Indications, classification, adverse reactions and mechanisms for approximately 700 pharmacologic agents.
  • Information on cytokines, hormones, autocoids, neurotransmitters, toxicology, vitamins, and nutrition.
  • Outlines of vascular anatomy and muscular insertion points.

The Book

Dr. Bookstein began writing Medical Student's Pocket Reference during his first year of medical school, and continue to work on the book for approximately the next 10 years as he progressed through medical school, internship, residency, and fellowship. MSPR is the only resource currently available which attempts to provide a compact yet panoramic introduction / overview of medical knowledge for medical students. It also serves as a handy review for physicians.

The aim of MSPR is several-fold:

  1. To provide an introduction to the field of medicine and a unified overview of medical knowledge for beginning medical students
  2. To present a framework for learning and organizing medical knowledge
  3. To provide quick but superficial reviews of pertinent topics for medical students and physicians
  4. To lessen the necessity of memorizing minutiae by expediting access

MSPR is organized by organ system:

  • Cardiovascular
  • Respiratory
  • Hematologic
  • Urinary
  • Digestive
  • Immune
  • Integumentary
  • Nervous
  • Musculoskeletal
  • Endocrine
  • Reproductive

Within each organ system, diseases are grouped into logical categories (congenital, infectious, neoplastic, etc.). Discussion of each disease entity is clearly organized by

  • epidemiology
  • pathology
  • H&P / laboratory / radiologic manifestations
  • diagnostic criteria
  • approaches to treatment
  • etc...

Included in this volume are the following:

  • Concise discussion of approximately 3,000 diseases and nonspecific clinical presentations
  • Discussion of nonspecific clinical presentations, focusing on work-up and differential diagnosis
  • Discussion of important bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic pathogens, with discussion of their associated diseases
  • Indications, classification, adverse reactions, and mechanisms for approximately 700 pharmacologic agents, as well as information on cytokines, hormones, autocoids, neurotransmitters, toxicology, vitamins, and nutrition
  • A 5,900-entry combined index and medical vocabulary list
  • Over 900 medical abbreviations
  • Over 200 normal laboratory values
  • Pediatric vital signs
  • How to interpret EKG's & ABG's
  • Fluids and electrolytes
  • Acid-base
  • An outline of vascular anatomy, describing the interconnection of approximately 300 arteries and veins
  • Neural nuclei and tracts, brachial plexus, and cranial nerves
  • Origin, insertion, action, and innervation of more than 180 muscles
  • Embryologic derivatives
  • Extensive discussion of the radiologic manifestations of diseases
  • How to read chest and abdominal radiographs, CT's, & MRI's
  • Introduction to the history and physical examination
  • An essay on medical education

Also included are tips to help ease the student's transition from the classroom to the clinic and ward, such as:

  • Patient data management
  • How to present a patient to an attending physician
  • Medical documentation such as soap notes, admission / post-op orders, discharge summaries, operative notes, procedure notes, etc.