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The Southern Illinois University
School of Medicine
Student to Student Handbook

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Welcome to SIU-SOM. This handbook is written for students by students. It is intended to be a companion to help you get the most from your study and leisure while at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

This handbook is by no means comprehensive, but is instead a starting point for you to go out and discover things for yourself.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this online edition of the Student to Student Handbook.

Student Resources at SIU

The Guide to Springfield

Links to the Springfield Area

Housing

The bulk of this information is intended for first years in Carbondale moving up to Springfield. Some useful links: http://www.siumed.edu/studentaffairs/housing.html

http://www.springfieldhome.com/

Where to start

First of all, don’t get all worked up about finding a place to live. There are plenty of good, reasonably priced places. And, if you haven’t made living arrangements before the end of first year, don’t worry, you have the whole summer to find a place.

In the Spring of first year, the Office of Student Affairs in Springfield compiles a packet of housing information they gathered from the departing fourth years. This packet contains information on apartments/houses that fourth years have lived in. In addition, fourth years who bought houses in Springfield will send information down to Barbara to have her post it in the student lounge. So keep your eyes peeled for either of these if you want to get an early start.

Regarding apartments, many people use the classified ads in the Springfield Journal-Register. Word of mouth from second or third years in Springfield is also a commonly used resource for apartment locating. In addition, there is a book in the Springfield Office of Student Affairs with past student’s recommendations. Many recommend setting aside a few days to apartment shop to get a feel for the market in Springfield and to find your niche.

Utilities

Dining

The Illinois Times has a rather comprehensive listing of restaurants, as does the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Bellacino’s
6th St. Just S of Jewel

$6

Grinders, pizza, italian

Cancun
Sherman, IL

$8

Mexican. Great service. Good food.

Tokyo of Japan
Stevenson Dr.

$7-15

Japanese. The food is cooked right in front of you. A good place for a group of people.

Vic’s
Wabash Ave.

$6

Good pizza.  Paper thin crust.

Cafe Brio
6th St. downtown 

$5-10

Tex-Mex. Great atmosphere. You can tell that they try to make the place "urban" but that they don’t take themselves too seriously. The lunch menu is good, and its cheaper than the dinner menu

Magic Kitchen
Peoria Rd.

$5-7

Thai. The standard by which all others are measured. A once in a lifetime experience on a warm weekend night. BYOB, sit in the parking lot until there’s a table ready for you. Don’t eat the hottest stuff unless you love pain.

Sebastians

$12-14

Varied

Ritz’s Little Fryer

$4-6

Sunday brunch/Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

Barrell Head
Wabash Ave.

$5-9

Americana. This is a locally owned place with lots of Irish decor. A great place to get filled up.

Rizzi’s

$15

Italian. Classy

Thai Kitchen
9th Street

$6

Thai. Great if you’re on your OB rotation. Right across the street from St. Johns.  Same people as Magic Kitchen.

Saputo’s

$10-15

Italian. Good food.

Alexander’s
West Jefferson

  

Americana. Option of cooking your own steaks.

Indigo
Linbergh W. of Wal-mart

$15

Nouveau/Carribean. Great atmosphere. Live piano on weekend nights.

Siam Palace

$6-7

Thai/Chinese. Comparable to magic kitchen

Maid Rite

$5

Great local greasy spoon. Fries, burgers and homemade rootbeer floats.

Thailand Cuisine
behind Chi Chi’s on Wabash

reasonable

Great food, clean atmosphere

Cam’s
take Wabash west, past Veteran’s...keep going for several miles..first small town or will see small bar on right

  

Get the walleye platter...delicious and cheap

Angie’s Front Burner

$10

California? Great eclectic dishes in a cozy environment.

Luca’s Pizza
On Iles, in first strip mall on the right when traveling west

$6

Good pizza and stromboli. The owner is a real character. They sell pizza by the slice.

Sunrise Cafe
Second and South Grand, Ninth and North Grand

$3-8

Greasy spoon, great breakfasts

China Star

$6-7

Best Sesame/General Tso’s Chicken in town

J.P.’s

$5-7

Diner

Buffet City 1774 Wabash Ave.

$5-7

> 150 items to choose from; lunch buffet is only $5.25.

Darcy's Pint

$7-10

Amazing horse shoes.

Smokey Bones BBQ & Sports Bar

$8-17

You control the TV above your table; try the homemade donuts.

Shopping

White Oaks Mall on the corner of Wabash and Veteran’s Parkway offers several large department stores as well as franchises of national retail outlets such as the Gap, Abercrombie and Fitch, Gadzooks and Wicks and Things. The list below focuses on unique, locally owned establishments that have been frequented and recommended by medical students. Here is a link to some Springfield shopping areas: http://www.visit-springfieldillinois.com/visitorinfo/shopping/index.htm.  

Runner’s World

West White Oaks Drive

Running apparel, shoes, etc.

Barnes and Noble

Veteran’s Parkway

Bookstore

Food Fantasies

1512 W. Wabash, pH 793-8009

Health food store, all organic, and if you’re lucky you’ll get a whiff of patchouli

The Peace Store

Wabash

World wide gift store

Prairie Archives

522 E. Adams pH 522-9742

A maze of very interesting and cool stuff, not just dusty old books as one might tend to believe

Recycled Records

625 E Adams pH 522-5122

Used furniture, Cds, video games, etc.

Colin Folk Art

Salisbury, Il. (toward New Salem)

  

Uncle Chuck’s Nursery

  

Great bedding plants

R & M Cyclery  

832 W. Washington

If you want to buy a good bike go to this shop. Not the cheapest but well worth the service. No BS, no attitude.

Biketek

957 Clock Tower Dr.

Bicycles

Entertainment

The Muni at Lake Springfield

529-5787

The Spot

Second and Cook. Lots of great games, and a good happy hour on Friday’s

Knight’s Action Park

Driving range (best in town), Putt-Putt Golf, batting cage, go-karts, water slide

Brewhaus

Downtown. Classic atmosphere and cheap beer.

Boone’s

Edward’s St. Great beer garden

Brown’s

Downtown. Good beers, great atmosphere

State Fair

State Fair Grounds on Sangamon Avenue. Get info online at: http://www.state.il.us/fair.

White Oaks Mall Theatre

$1.00 all shows before 6p; $2.00 all shows after 6p.

Recreation

These are some activities/locations that students have enjoyed in the past. Check out the Illinois Department of Natural Resources page to find out about state parks and more: http://dnr.state.il.us/. Check out this site about Springfield area parks: http://www.springfieldparks.org

Walking/Biking/Running:
Washington Park Wonderful for running, biking or walking
Lost Bridge Trail 5 mile trail from Springfield to Rochester. Trail starts at IDOT building on Dirksen Parkway. Good for biking, roller-blading, walking, running, etc.
Backwoods Mountain Biking Trails By Lake Springfield, go south on Chatham Rd. until you hit a T road, go right, turn left at next house, go to dead end, wear helmet and beware of logs.
Lincoln Memorial Gardens 2 miles of hiking, great for walks.

Hunting:
Site M 16,000 acres located West of town. Take Jefferson all the way out of town and follow signs. Forty minute drive. Check in at office to get permits.

Fishing:
Sangcris Lake 25 minutes east of town
Sangamon River  

Athletics:
Volleyball Leagues State police armory (just north of the capital) during winter and at the 4 seasons during summer
Indoor soccer Several leagues at Soccer World on corner of Veteran’s Parkway and Lawrence.
Hockey Rec league
Soccer Springfield Men's Soccer League
Softball Numerous leagues; park district may be the best

Fitness Clubs:
YMCA 4th and Cook. FREE. Decent facilities.
FitClub $30-40 per month.
Springfield Racquet and Fitness Very nice. Expensive. Student rates available

Golf:
Bergen Golf Course 9 holes/par 35 2900 Clear Lake Ave., 753-6211
Brookhills 9 holes/par 31 5350 Old Jacksonville Rd., 787-8576
Bunn Park 18 holes/par 72 2500 S. 11th St., 522-2633
Lincoln Greens 18 holes/par 72 700 East Lake Drive, 786-4000
The Oaks 18 holes/par 70 5250 Oakcrest Road, 528-6600
Pasfield Park Golf Course 9 holes/par 34 1700 West Lawrence, 753-6226
Piper Glen Golf Club 18 holes/par 72 7112 Piper Glen Dr. (Veterans Parkway- 3mi S. I-72) 483-6537
The Rail 18 holes/par 72 1400 S. Clubhouse Dr., 525-0365 (Home of the LPGA State Farm Classic each Labor Day Weekend)  

Local Points of Historical Interest

Below are some great places in the Springfield area that students have enjoyed.

Haircut

These are some places around town where students in the past recommend getting their hair cut. This handbook does not take responsibility for knappy dos.  
 

Jefferson Street Styling   

$9

Jefferson St.

Barber shop. Owner is named Scott and is very nice

Master Cuts 

$12

Mall

Cheap.

Borics 

$7

Mall

Cheap. I have short hair and have always liked it.

Attitudes - Dave Shinnebarger 

$23

1219 W. Ash

He’s the best!

Clipper Shop   

$8

Next to Matthew’s Bookstore

These guys razor cut neck and sideburns

Southern View Barber Shop 

$8

St. Joseph St., take a right at Ramada on S. Sixth

Throw back to ‘50’s. Good haircuts. Smoking encouraged.

BJ Salon

$20-30

W. Robbins, near Parkway Pointe Theatres

Pricey but good. Full service salon that offers many more than haircuts. Worth the price.

Auto Service

These are some businesses in the Springfield area that students have had good experiences with, and what they’ve had to say about them.

The MSI Year in Carbondale  - Year 1 Curriculum Page

(please click here to access the updated Carbondale student-to-student handbook - 8/2005)

Equipment

CRR Unit

SSB Unit

ERG Unit

General Websites

Social Scene

The MSII Year - Year 2 Curriuculum Page

TEXTBOOK SELECTION

Pathology

Microbiology
Medical Micro and Immuno
(Levinson & Jawetz-royal blue), Lange Review Book		 Excellent review book - expects you know some basic concepts, great for those that have a micro background. A must for everyone for the Boards. The second half of the book is immunology.
Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple For those who like the M.R.S. series, this book is excellent. Great stories, pictures, and chart. Treatment of every organism is emphasized along with chapters of basic pharmacology. It is a little more detailed than Jawetz. Describes some of the basic concepts that Jawetz assumes you know.
Microbiology Companion
(white binder)		 This was written by two medical school students. It is very organized, includes flashcards, treatment, and highlights important information. Detail is similar to Jawetz or the MRS.
Jawetz Medical Microbiology Like other Lange books. Detailed. Use as a supplement.
Sherris Medical Microbiology Also detailed. Great supplement.

 Pharmacology
Lippencott’s PharmacologyPharmacology Made Ridiculously Simple This book is different than the other Made Ridiculously Simple books. There are very few "cute" pictures that this series is known for. This book has excellent charts including the trade name, the mechanism of action, the side effects, drug interactions, etc. A good supplement to Lippencott’s, but may not give enough explanations for some.
Pharm cards Flashcards made by two Harvard medical students. Excellent. Also includes flashcards of diagrams for mechanisms of actions that are very helpful. Some drugs are given in greater explanation that Lippencott’s or MRS, and other drugs are not mentioned that Lippencott’s or MRS includes. Again, try to use more than one source, but this is an excellent way to test your knowledge.
Goodman & Gillman’s Excellent, but detailed. Use as a supplement to answer any questions.
Modern Pharmacology
(Craig and Stritzel)		 Also a great book for those who have a quest for additional knowledge.
AMA Guide to Drugs A large green book given to students that join the AMA. Used by most to find additional information. (There was talk about changing the book for future AMA members).

Immunology
Lange Micro/Immuno Great for immuno as well (see above)
Medical Micro & Immuno
Jawetz (royal blue)		 The second half of this book is an excellent review for immunology. As stated before, this book is a must.
Immunology
Sites, Terr, and Parslow (green)		 Detailed. Good supplement. Lange format.
Cellular and Molecular Immunology (Abbas) Some great illustrations and diagrams.

USMLE Step 1 - USMLE Info

This is important. Don't let anyone tell you that it's just a test; this may be the single most important event of your career up to this point. This is not meant to scare you; take the test seriously. If you have prepared up to this point, a little hard work and you're good to go.

Everyone adopts their own personal strategy for board preparation. I think that it is important to set reasonable goals for yourself regarding what material you want to cover. This is different for every individual.

A good book to start out with is First Aid For The Boards. The introductory portion of this book will answer many of your questions regarding the boards. Most importantly, this book has reviews other board review books, and is a good starting point when you begin book shopping. This book contains concise reviews of path, pharm, etc., and has several useful pnemonics. It is money well spent. Ask around during second year about what books/resources other people used. This strategy will help you more than this handbook. Kaplan's Q-Bank is routinely regarding as the best question source.

Regarding registration, Dr. Constance, Nancy Calvert and the rest of the folks in the Office of Student Affairs will keep you on top of deadlines, etc. No worries there.

It looks as though the test will be at the Sylvan Learning Center for at least the near future. The conditions are less than ideal at times, but there’s nothing you can do about it. I actually had no problems or complaints the day that I took the test.

Good luck.

REMEMBER THIS: Take a vacation after boards. It is undesirable to go from studying for Step I to Third year all in one breath.

 The MSIII Year - Year Three Contacts; Year 3 Curriculum Page

Introduction

Away Rotations

Obstetrics and Gynecology - OB/Gyn Clerkship Website

Overview

This is a 6 week clerkship that is divided into a three week obstetrics experience and a three week gynecology experience. In addition to the respective clinical experiences, there are lectures once a week that all students in the clerkship attend. There are also several assignments that must be completed during the clerkship in order to pass. You are required to present 3-4 H&Ps to the attending that has been designated as your preceptor. It is recommended that you prepare for these by having a resident critique your H&P and then rewriting it before you give it to your preceptor. Be ready to answer questions about the case because you’ll be asked them, and you want to look good. Try to pick up the exam the day that the respective lecture is given. Some of the questions are answered in lecture. You will also be required to give several 10 minute talks during this clerkship. Usually, they are about common problems.

The exam at the end of the clerkship is an NBME shelf exam. It is multiple choice and almost completely composed of vignette style questions. It is highly recommended that you read as much as possible during the gynecology portion of the clerkship. OB can be unpredictable, the days are long (i.e., you don’t feel like reading when you get home), and depending on how many students there are in your rotation, you may be post-call quite a bit. Bottom line, you may have little time to prepare for the exam during OB.

Obstetrics

OB is probably among the most fun and the most grueling three weeks you’ll experience as a medical student. Be ready to get up at 4am every day, and don’t expect to have many days off, if any, during this three weeks. Call is in house, and the amount of sleep you get is variable, you may get none or you may get 3 or 4 hours.

During OB you’ll spend one week on the Maternal and Fetal Medicine (MFM) service, one week in clinics with Dr. Nichols and the residents, and the rest of the time in the hospital. While on the MFM service, you round on the MFM patients when you get there in the mornings and then you go to clinics with Dr. Huffman when he has them during the week. While on the MFM service you’ll see things like pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and preterm-premature rupture of membranes. Dr. Nichol’s clinics include her OB/GYN clinics and her sexual abuse clinics. Dr. Nichols really lets you get your hands dirty, you learn a lot. With the residents, you’ll participate in the Stork clinic. You’ll be an expert at finding fetal heart tones and measuring fundal height by the end of the day. When you’re in the hospital, you’ll follow laboring patients, patients on Magnesium, and write H&P’s on incoming patients. When you’re on the other services and don’t have a clinic or other scheduled activity, you spend the rest of the time at the hospital. You also have to spend a morning with the lactation consultant.

Here’s what to expect on a typical day in OB:

Other helpful hints: The real key to OB is teamwork. If you spread around the work as evenly as you can and help each other out, it makes the experience much better for all.

Gynecology

The gynecology portion of the clerkship includes scrubbing in on surgeries and participating in clinics. The services you’ll participate in include Resident’s clinic, Gynecologic oncology, Dr. Nelson’s clinic and hospital. The student on gyne onc works exclusively with the gyne-onc attending for the week, and the rest of the students meet every morning and every afternoon for rounds. Keep in mind that patients assigned to a particular clinic service may also be scheduled for surgeries in the hospital. It is likely you’ll have more free time when you’re in gyne than when you’re in OB (except when you’re in gyne-onc). Once again, try to read as much as you can during gyne.

The resident’s clinic is a general gyne clinic. The residents are great and like to teach, its a good experience. You’ll also spend an afternoon at the public health STD clinic. Approach this experience with an open mind because it is a great change of pace. You take the history, examine the patient, make the diagnosis and treat the patient. You really feel like a doctor.

The week of gyne onc has the potential to be the most grueling of the year. You may see some really cool things when you’re in gyne onc. You may scrub in on an 8 hour surgery to remove a tumor that most people only read about. Also, the atending gives you a pretty extensive hand out that spells out what she expects and what you should know for the week. I would recommend you read the required chapters in Hacker and Moore. It will really help you to get more out of the week.

Dr. Nelson’s clinics are general OB/GYN clinics. Dr. Nelson is very nice and very patient. She likes students and makes you feel like you are part of the team.

Call for the gyne portion of this clerkship is at home call. The typical day in gyne begins at between 5:30 or 6, depending on how many post-surgical patients you have to round on and whether or not you need to do an H&P for a morning surgery. Then between 6:30 or 7, all the residents and students meet for rounds. Be prepared to give a 1 or 2 minute presentation on your patient(s). You may also have to give one of your talks at this time. The students assigned to clinic then go to their clinic, and those on hospital go to their surgeries. The gang then reunites between 4 and 5 for check out rounds. At these rounds, you go over the cases from that day. This is another time when you may have to give one of your talks.

Book Recommendations

Family and Community Medicine - FCM Clerkship Website

Overview

Family and Community Medicine is a six week clerkship that offers students a very heterogeneous experience. The overwhelming majority of you will complete this clerkship away from Springfield, working in the offices of family physicians throughout Central and Southern Illinois.

The clerkship starts with a three-day orientation in Springfield, after which you disperse to your respective communities. Be wise in picking your mentor. Make sure you look at what other students had to say about a particular mentor in the black book in the Family and Community Medicine office. Word of mouth is often helpful as well. Don’t forget to take into consideration such things as days off, whether or not he/she does OB, and the composition of their practice.

There are several assignments that are due throughout the clerkship, including a paper, an evidence based medicine assignment, and an oral presentation. The paper is optional and extra credit. I strongly recommended that you do this paper, as it can help immensely toward your getting honors in this clerkship. The evidence based medicine assignment is required. In a nutshell, you write a SOAP note about a patient, find two journal articles pertinent to the case regarding a specific treatment, test or therapy, and compare the two articles using Dr. Ewart’s criteria. For the community agency assignment, you write a SOAP note on a patient that you referred to a community agency, and then go check out the agency and write about it. The oral presentation is on a common topic encountered in family medicine. You draw your topic out of a hat during orientation. The paper is due around the middle of the clerkship, and the evidence based medicine assignment, community agency assignment and oral presentation are due during the last week of the clerkship.

The final clerkship exam includes the 100 question shelf test and 8-10 stations that test many of the topics that were covered in the orientation. It is very difficult to study for the written exam because of the vastness of the material that it covers. The best advice for preparation is reading the chapters in the Sloan Family and Community Medicine textbook that you feel particularly weak in. For the stations, go over the objectives in the orientation materials, and review any handouts that you got during orientation.

By the way, you need a good excuse to stay in Springfield for this clerkship. The reasons for sending you away are legitimate. They really want you to experience family medicine away from the medical school, and see how things work in another hospital. Just to warn you, being married will not keep you in Springfield, nor will having a pet.

Book Recommendations

All the textbooks that you need for this clerkship are provided during the orientation.  

Pediatrics - Pediatrics Clerkship Website

Overview

Pediatrics is a 6 week clerkship. It is divided into a 3week outpatient experience and a 3week inpatient experience. Generally, one-third of you will have outpatient the first two weeks, one-third the middle two weeks and one-third the last two weeks.

Scheduled activities in the clerkship include lectures, Chairman’s Rounds with Dr. Kienstra, and the clerkship exam. Lectures are at noon M-F with an occasional lecture at 4pm. Lectures are more or less required. It is advisable to go because many of the questions from the written exam come directly from lecture notes.

Chairman’s Rounds with Dr. Kienstra are usually Tu-Th at 4pm. Dr. Kienstra is a classic character. He’s one of those guys that you’ll talk about at your 20 year class reunion. If you were on call the night or day before rounds, be prepared to present the patient(s) that you admitted. Dr. Kienstra will usually use the patient case as a starting point to discuss a pediatric topic that he thinks is important. Some advice, don’t take Dr. Kienstra too seriously. He enjoys students. If he’s teasing you and you think it’s appropriate, don’t be afraid to tease him back.

The clerkship exam is administered over a span of two days. You take a written exam the first day and see a standardized patient the second day. The written exam is composed of 100 multiple choice shelf test. Both parts of the exam are challenging. It is also wise to go over material presented by LeBlang and Silverman because they contribute a few questions to the written exam as well. If you’re going to use a textbook, try to pick one that you can read cover-to-cover throughout the clerkship, so that you’ll cover your bases. The standardized patient portion of the exam is given on the second day. You really can’t prepare for the standardized patient exam other than knowing the didactic material well. Generally, you see the mother of a child (you can’t have children for SP’s because of those pesky child labor laws) and obtain a history.

In addition to the scheduled activities, you are required to write 6 H&P’s with discussions, and you will have a faculty mentor that you will meet with weekly. Meetings with your mentor typically last 1 hour and are usually centered around presenting and discussing your H&P’s. The H&P’s can be derived from any patient that you see during the clerkship. However, it is easiest if you use patients that you see while on inpatient. This is because faculty expect you to obtain a VERY thorough birth history, developmental history, and social history. All of this historical information is difficult to obtain in a 15 or 30 minutes clinic visit. Three of your H&P’s are graded by your mentor and three are graded by other faculty. In general, your discussion should include a problem list, differential diagnosis, an assessment that includes your most likely diagnosis and why, a plan, and a discussion of the prominent topics of the case. Try to do your best not to procrastinate. Writing the H&P’s can be time consuming, and you want to make sure that you have some time at the end of the clerkship to study for the exam.

Outpatient

This is your vacation/study time during Peds. The outpatient experience consists of half-day clinic or newborn nursery experiences. Morning clinics typically begin around 8:30 or 9am. Afternoon clinics typically begin at 1 or 1:30. Lecture supersedes clinics, so don’t be afraid to let the faculty know that you have class. The exception to this is when you go to a community Pediatrician’s clinic.

In general, the outpatient experience is very fun. You will find that you have several half-days without obligation. There are no hospital obligations when you are in outpatient. Some of the faculty expect that you review charts the day before clinic. I found that all of the clinic experiences were more enriching if I had a chance to review at least the diagnoses of the patients coming in the next day. Reading ahead makes you look good if you get pimped.

Although you will find yourself to be fairly busy during outpatient, you will have more free time and will be better rested than when you are on inpatient. So read as much as you can during inpatient. For those of you who don’t have inpatient first, outpatient is a good time to churn out your H&P’s.

Inpatient

Here are some tips for inpatient. First of all, work as a team. If someone isn’t pulling their weight get on their case. You all have the same amount of work to do. If another student has procrastinated on their H&P’s and are in a time crunch, odds are that you are too. Life is hard. Tell them to suck it up. Secondly, work hard on your oral presentations. This is really your chance to shine as a student. Unless you have an SIU attending taking care of your patient(s), this is the only chance you have to show them how good you really are.

Textbook Recommendations

Psychiatry - Psychiatry Clerkship Website

Psychiatry clerkship has undergone some changes the past couple of years. I will comment only on the things that I suspect will remain constant for the upcoming classes. This clerkship is a six week rotation that offers students a very heterogeneous experience. One student per clerkship travels to the state mental health facility in Anna, IL, and the rest of you will spend your six weeks in Springfield.

Due to the relative paucity of psychiatric inpatients, usually only two students are assigned to consult and liaison service per clerkship. The rest of the students see psychiatric patients outside of the hospital setting.

The seminars are on Religion and Medicine, Law and Psychiatry and Health Policy. They are presented by Dr. Myers, Professor LeBlang and Professor Silverman, respectively. Psychiatry Grand Rounds are every Friday at noon.

You will also be expected to take call 4-6 times throughout the clerkship. Call begins at 4:30pm and ends 7:30am, and it is at home call. It is your duty to contact the resident on call before you come on. Call in psychiatry is a very heterogeneous experience. Some people get called in every time, some get called in once or not at all. If you are on-call on Saturday or Sunday, it is probably best to contact the resident the Friday before. That way you don’t have to wake up the resident on the weekend. It may be the only day that he/she gets to sleep in.

Textbook Recommendations

Internal Medicine/Neurology - Medicine Clerkship Website; Neurology Clerkship Website 

A few words about the Medicine clerkship.

Surgery -Surgery Clerkship Website

The MS IV Year - Year Four Curriculum Page

General Recommendations

ENT

ER

Internal Medicine

OB/GYN

Plastics

Urology

Student Organizations

http://www.siumed.edu/studentaffairs/organizations.html

Philanthropic Opportunities

American Cancer Society, (217) 546-7586: not-for-profit organization providing information on cancer prevention and early detection, support groups, public education programs, and staff assistance in locating and obtaining services for medically indigent cancer patients. Volunteer Opportunities:

American Red Cross, (217) 522-3357: not-for-profit organization that provides relief to victims of disasters and helps people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. It also provides health and safety service classes and community service programs.

Arthritis Foundation, (217) 523-2200: not-for-profit organization that provides information and services to those afflicted with arthritis and raises funds to find a cure and improve quality of life for those with the disease. Volunteer Opportunities:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Sangamon County, (217) 753-1216: not-for-profit organization which matches children, ages 6-14 seeking one-on-one relationships, with adults who can be a positive role model and offer guidance and companionship. The goal is to reinforce positive attitudes in children, including a sense of self-worth at home, in school, and in the community. Volunteer Opportunities: Boy Scouts of America- Abe Lincoln Council, (217) 546-5570: not-for-profit organization which serves others by instilling values in young people and, in other ways, to prepare them to make ethical choices over their lifetime in achieving their full potential. Volunteer opportunities: Catholic Charities, (217) 525-0500: Not-for-profit agency which provides: child-welfare services of adoption, foster care, therapeutic daycare, in-home Family First preservation and reunification services to at-risk children and their families; St John’s Breadline/Holy Family Food Pantry, used clothing/furniture store, access to health care through vision and dental Clinics, prevention and assessment Clinics for Kids and advocacy/info/referral, immigration and refugee reunification and resettlement assistance, unplanned pregnancy counseling, marriage & family therapy, crisis assistance and advocacy to ease basic deprivations (housing, utilities, food, & clothing). Volunteer opportunities: