BOOK REVIEW: Kumar and Clark - Clinical Medicine

 

Kumar and Clark’s Clinical Medicine is a core clinical textbook that many students encounter early in medical school. Used well, it can be an excellent starting point in Phase 1, providing a coherent clinical framework that helps make sense of the science you are learning alongside it.

Many students find it helpful to read a relevant section of Kumar and Clark first — slowly, with a cup of tea — to get the clinical picture, before diving into the associated physiology, anatomy, or biochemistry.

Read on for more information about why this may be very useful for your learning.

The Functions of Skin: it does more than keep your innards in !

 The skin is far more than a passive covering—it’s a highly specialised organ that plays a role in homeostasis, immunity, sensation, thermoregulation, and biochemical synthesis. Understanding its multifaceted functions is crucial in medicine.

🎧 Learning on the go

This short podcast revisits key concepts from Structure and Function of the Skin in a conversational format, designed for listening while commuting, walking, or exercising.

Phase 1 Podcast — Structure and Function of the Skin

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How to study in medical school (Phase 1 Week 1 version!)

Medical school comes with a lot of advice about how to study — much of it conflicting. Here's a short NotebookLM video (5 minutes) to bring together ideas from several sources to highlight some common themes about learning effectively in medicine.

This is not a checklist or a set of rules. Instead, it’s intended as a prompt for reflection: how you approach learning, how you prioritise understanding over volume, and how to avoid the pull towards rote memorisation. 

You don’t need to adopt everything you hear here. Use it as a way to think critically about what works for you, especially as you transition into Phase 1 and case-based learning.

 This is just the beginning - we will have plenty more conversations about this. 

What does “understanding” actually look like in Phase 1?

 Early in medical school, you’ll hear a lot of advice about understanding rather than memorising. That can sound reassuring — but also frustratingly vague. When you’re faced with a lot of new content, it’s reasonable to wonder what you’re actually meant to do differently.

In Phase 1, understanding doesn’t mean knowing everything. It means being able to explain how things work and why they matter, even if the finer detail isn’t solid yet.

Understanding starts with why, then builds detail

Why social determinants matter in clinical medicine 🏥🌍

When people think about becoming a doctor, they often imagine diagnosing disease and prescribing treatment. Biology matters — but very early in clinical practice, it becomes clear that biology alone does not explain who becomes unwell, how illness progresses, or why outcomes differ so markedly between patients.

This is where social determinants of health become essential to clinical reasoning.

Social determinants are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. They shape exposure to risk, access to care, capacity to recover, and the choices people realistically have available to them. Importantly, they influence health long before a patient enters a clinic — and continue to shape outcomes long after a prescription is written.

Starting medical school: don’t lose sight of the big picture 🩺📚

Starting medical school can feel like drinking from a firehose. One day you’re diving into biochemistry, anatomy, and physiology; the next, you’re untangling the brachial plexus and trying to make sense of cardiac output. It’s an overwhelming amount of information, and it’s very common to feel like you need to keep up with everything at once.

Here’s the key message early on: the details matter, but understanding matters more.

The Structure of Skin: Layers, Cells & Histology

 The skin is the largest organ of the body, functioning as a physical barrier while supporting immune defence, thermoregulation, and sensory input. Structurally, it consists of three main layers, each with unique cell types and functions.