Anatomy

Taking Gross Anatomy for the first time? Feel like you’re getting hit with a firehose? Here are some resources I found useful when embarking on the particular brand of insanity that is your first dissection-based course:

1. Practice Tests: Don’t worry. I failed these too. Doesn’t mean you’ll bomb the real thing!
http://umed.med.utah.edu/testfiles/topics.cfm?CID=3

2. BioDigital Human: A virtual 3D map of the human body, that allows you to add or subtract anatomical layers (e.g. muscles, arteries, veins, nerves), which is useful when trying to figure out where exactly the cephalic vein is.
Spoiler: It’s in the axilla, and you’re never going to find it anyway:  https://www.biodigitalhuman.com/home/

3. Netter’s Atlas: You can’t get better than Netter. The bee’s knees. Awesome illustrations. Don’t leave home without it. Or if you’re planning on leaving home without it, get the flashcards – they’re the portable version.

4. Grant’s Dissector: You’ll want a copy solely for the dissection lab. Trust me. If you want to study it at home, I would recommend searching for a pdf version online.

5. Cadaver – Michael Crichton: About to take Gross and worried about your first interactions with your cadaver? Don’t fear – the author of one of the greatest literary works of the 2oth Century(and, incidentally, the creator of ER) has got you covered. It’s in Travels, his 2002 collection of personal essays, which is worth a read even if you’re not taking Gross. If you’re not a med student, he also gives you an idea of what the med students you’ll be interacting with are going to be like AND teaches you a particularly memorable mnemonic for the branches of the facial nerve.

Original image found here.