Pro Tip: Prior to starting residency do not buy anything. First, you’re likely to be living on credit cards until a paycheck arrives. Second, you don’t know what your residency, senior residents or faculty plan to provide for you until you get there.

Resource for Residency


After you’ve started residency consider these lists:

  • Apps To Buy – Yes, as a real physician with a regular paycheck you will have to consider buying expensive apps. Welcome to residency.
  • Books to Consider – Quick and not-so-quick references.

FM Focused References

  • The AAFP journal, American Family Physician, published every two weeks, with articles of a reasonable length. Easy to read a little every night, and it’s amazing what you’ll learn. Also allows for spaced repetition when paired with the podcasts.
  • UpToDate or Dynamed, whichever your institution pays for (don’t buy it yourself)
  • AAFP’s free board review questions – requires login, but free questions are nice.
  • USPSTF. I Google guideline i want + uspstf most of the time (ie: cervical cancer screen uspstf), but you can actually search their website directly

Podcasts

  • The AFP Podcast is free, and is summaries of AAFP Journal.
  • Primary Care RAP (Reviews and Perspectives) is not, but is totally worth the discounted fee they charge residents, and may be covered by your programs CME funds, if you get any. I love the “bite size” topics each month.
  • Although I’ve never finished an episode, you can also enjoy The Curbsiders for free, which is created by our cousins in IM.
  • For your mental joy, consider these free options that are not educational in the #MedEd sense:
    • The Nocturnists, which is narrative medicine in podcast form;
    • This Podcast Will Kill You (with Erin and Erin) who were telling you to wash your hands before COVID19
    • Ologies by Alie Ward, which is delightful exploration of science and knowledge, for your mind and spirit. The one on bears? MAGICAL AND SCARY.

TEACH cards

This resource gives you info on excellent primary sources and helps you learn how – and what questions to ask – on inpatient or maternal-child health service as you learn. There are 50 inpatient cards, 43 OB/L&D cards and 12 Newborn cards. “TEACH Cards (Teaching Evidence-based medicine And Clinical topics in the Hospital) is an inpatient educational tool created at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Family Medicine Residency Program…  to enhance core clinical knowledge and to improve patient-centered evidence-based medicine skills.”

Other Specialty References

Signature for Farrah and Pixie

Last updated: May 24th 2023