Stuff You Need for 2nd Year

At the beginning of my 2nd year, I heard from some classmates that we had to buy some instruments to be used for our Physical Diagnosis class, along with other books and whatnot. During the course of my 2nd year, I realized, you don't really need to buy it all.

So here are some of the things that you should have, or at least save up for:

1. Otoscope and Opthalmoscope

     This is the priciest of the bunch, and if you cant really afford it right now, you can just borrow from your classmates during the practical exam in Physical diagnosis. 

Price: from Php3,500-12,000.00

Brand: Welch Allyn (super gaduper expensive, only buy it IF you think you want to go into Optha or something as your specialty~ advice from one doctor). 

You can also go for generic ones (made in China, these are the ones that can be found in Bambang, Tayuman, Manila areas), they're pretty nice, solid, compact, dont get broken easily, and costs about Php3,500- 4,500. Discrepancies in price are from the stores you buy them. At one store in Dasma, they were selling it for 4k, but in Bambang, I asked a friend to buy me one, it was about 3,500. 

Question: Should I buy a brand new one or 2nd hand? Much better if its brand new, at least its yours, and with 2nd hand ones, you cant really guarantee its 100% functional. 

2. Stethoscope

Equally pricey, they would ask you to have your own, but you can always borrow from a classmate for practical exams. I recommend getting your own since this is a staple in any doctor's handbag. MUST.HAVE.ONE.

Price: Anywhere from Php 800 (for generic ones) to Php10,000 (specialized Littman Steths)

Brand: You can get the cheaper ones like Baxtel which can also include a BP set, but during our practicals, some doctors commented that having a Littman is better since it has a better quality when listening to heart sounds, lung sounds, and the like. The Littman I have cost about Php 4,000. With additional costs, you can customize it by color (blue,red, pink, etc, and add on finishing touches like bronze, rainbow finish, etc, and have your name engraved on it). Online sellers are very reliable naman, and for sure, some upper classmen will sell you brand new ones too.

3. BP Set

Better to borrow it nalang, but I still bought my own so I could use it at home on my parents and relatives. Hahahaha

Price: Anywhere from Php500- Php 1,500.

Brand: They say Baxtel is good. There's a Welch Allyn brand one, but very very expensive. Couldnt afford it since I focused on the Steth and Otoscope. There's little difference in terms of quality (based on what doctors and classmates said) between Baxtel and Welch so I went for the cheaper one. 

4. Neuro Set

Sounds expensive right? Hahahaha Again, you can borrow these during practicals, but, its nice to have your own. This includes

• Neurohammer- costs about Php 75-150, just get the simple one
• Tuning Fork- doctors prefer the one thats 512 Hz instead of 256. And dont get the ones with the special head on it, the simple ones will do
• Jaeger Chart- about 25 pesos
• Snellen chart- but this is usually bought by group
• Pen Light- any will do, costs about Php 100-200
• Tape Measure
• Pinhole Occluder- no need to buy this one, you can make your own by getting a piece of paper and poking a hole in it. Voila! If you want to buy one, i think it costs about 30 pesos, but you only use it once or twice.

5. Books

I learned my lesson from last year, I didn't read my books as much as I wanted to, but I should have. Instead, this year, I just bought the baby books (companion books of the actual textbooks-very concise, short, easy to carry around). 

The only ones I bought were Robbins and Cotran's Patho Companion Book, Williams Obstetrics, Harrison's Manual of Medicine, Schwartz Surgery. I bought these all on Pinoy.md :) 

This year, you'll have to buy manuals in Pharmacology, Microbiology, Physical Diagnosis and Pathology. You must must must buy it because they dont allow photocopies. Each manual costs Php 500. Pharma has 2 manuals, Micro has 2. 

The reason I didnt use books that much this year was that the sheer volume of info was too much to go through in books (Im a pretty slow reader), and there's just not enough time to give my undivided attention to all the subjects. What happened instead was I relied more on past transcriptions, transcriptions from my classmates, and the lecture itself. If I didnt understand a certain topic, I'd go back to the book, or ebook, and other online sources like Medscape. For this, I invested in a brand new printer and paper. 

Some will also sell you their past transcriptions. They offered one set of past tranx which cost about Php 3 or 4,000. It was a good thing that I didnt buy it because some of the lectures had different doctors, and so the content also changed. What I did buy was a stack of the upper year's past exams/ evaluations. These past exams are pretty vital since they can help you determine key points that you need to focus on while studying.