The Med School Survival Guide

Jennifer Danek

Three River’s Press,
ISBN 0 609 80595 9
Rating: ***

The Med School Survival Guide is a deeply delicious book. This is the kind of book that you will read again and again, thinking, “Now why didn't I start doing that the first time I was told to?” Imagine confronting your lecturers with a smile and a thank you from the bottom of your heart after they have illuminated the darkness of your misunderstandings and everybody else in your year pelting stale doughnuts at you when you attempted to enter the coffee lounge afterwards.

That's right, if you had not read that the author graduated from the University of California on the back sleeve you would certainly have guessed it. Despite a healthy cynical British response to some of the more cute suggestions this is surprisingly wise for a self help number. It is divided into nine chapters ranging from “Begin with a healthy attitude” (for preclinical students) to “Succeed on the wards and enjoy yourself” and all the way through to “Practice peace” for the qualified medic. Dr Danek's advice is always sincere and wholesome and if you want to be the “best self (and best doctor)” you can be this guide will point you in the right direction. It is written mainly in the first person so you can almost feel the good doctor next to you as you read, making the book far too personal to be boring, while the true life anecdotes give the text depth and humour. Collectively the chapters contain a hundred and one big ideas which are expanded on in a page or a half at the most so you will not tax yourself reading them.

While there is plenty of the general “empower yourself” and “attitude is 90% of experience,” some of the approaches to the usual problems are incredibly original. Feeling small at the start of your medical course? Write down all your goals, all the little things that make you happy and why you wanted to be a doctor, reread your list periodically and be reminded of who you are.

My main criticism of the book would be the syrupy Americanisms that the author peppers almost every page with. These will make your head hurt if you read too many sections at once, so don't try to read this book from cover to cover in one go. That aside, buy this book for yourself or a friend at the start of medical school and if used sparingly it might just keep you from regretting the day that you completed your application form.

Hennah Bashir, third year medical student, St George's Hospital Medical School
Email: ms994285@sghms.ac.uk


studentBMJ 2001;09:357-398 October ISSN 0966-6494