Internal Medicine Essentials for Clerkship Students is a collaborative project of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM), the organization of individuals responsible for teaching internal medicine to medical students. The purpose of IM Essentials is to provide medical students with an authoritative educational resource that can be used to augment learning during the third year internal medicine clerkship. Much of the content is based upon two evidence-based resources of ACP: the Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP) and the Physician Information and Education Resource (PIER); other sources include recently published practice guidelines and review articles. IM Essentials is updated every two years with the best available evidence and is designed to be read cover-to-cover during the clerkship.

Based upon student feedback, IM Essentials 2 contains twice as many color plates and algorithms as its predecessor and more than 100 extra tables to enhance learning (and passing tests!). An index now provides fuller subject access. The most exciting addition is the Book Enhancement section found at the end of each chapter. This section directs the reader to a book-related Web site that contains nearly 500 links to additional tables, algorithms, color plates, and patient care tools. The Book Enhancement section also identifies specific chapter-related self-assessment questions published in a separate companion title also available in STAT!Ref online, MKSAP for Students 4.

The content of IM Essentials is based upon The Core Medicine Clerkship Curriculum Guide (available at www.im.org/CDIM), a nationally recognized curriculum for the required third-year internal medicine clerkship, created and published by the CDIM and the Society for General Internal Medicine. A collaboration of 66 authors, all of whom are either internal medicine clerkship directors or clerkship faculty, representing 45 different medical schools, IM Essentials 2 is unique in that it is created by faculty who helped design the internal medicine curriculum and who are actively involved in teaching and advising students on the internal medicine clerkship.

Patrick C. Alguire MD, FACP
Director
Education and Career Development
American College of Physicians
Editor-in-Chief