ACP, CDIM offer unified suite of educational resources designed specifically for the internal medicine clerkship

Philadelphia, January 14, 2015 -- Third-year medical students in the core internal medicine clerkship now have a single integrated suite of educational materials to help them care for patients, prepare for clinical rounds, and study for the end-of-rotation and USMLE Step 2 examinations.

Produced collaboratively by the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM), IM Essentials combines the self-assessment questions formerly in MKSAP for Students and the textbook content of Internal Medicine Essentials for Students into a single, updated, and integrated suite of educational materials with a variety of new enhancements for use by clerkship directors and students.

"IM Essentials is available in multiple formats, giving students the flexibility to study with print books or an online program that contains the complete content of both the IM Essentials Text and the IM Essentials Questions books, plus interactive features and digital flashcards," said Philip A. Masters, MD, FACP, Editor-in-Chief, IM Essentials.

IM Essentials Text (formerly Internal Medicine Essentials for Students) is an abbreviated textbook of medicine organized by traditional internal medicine topics, created specifically to provide the appropriate breadth and depth of coverage of key internal medicine topics in an 8- or 12-week clerkship or longitudinal rotation. The content is directly referenced to relevant questions in IM Essentials Questions.

IM Essentials Questions (formerly MKSAP for Students) is a self-assessment question book that uses more than 500 clinically-based, MKSAP-style questions to assess mastery of important internal medicine concepts and identify areas in which additional study is needed. Each question is linked to associated IM Essentials Text content.

IM Essentials Online is the next version of MKSAP for Students Digital giving students the ability to effortlessly switch back and forth between the core knowledge of IM Essentials Text and the related self-assessment questions in IM Essentials Questions. Users can access more than 1,000 digital flashcards, create custom quizzes using the self-assessment questions, and view peer statistics on multiple devices.

Free access to IM Essentials Online is included with the purchase of either IM Essentials Text or IM Essentials Questions, or access to the online program may be purchased separately.

IM Essentials was created by more than 90 CDIM member clerkship directors and five associate editors representing over 70 schools of medicine specifically for use in the clerkship to help students grasp and clinically apply important internal medicine concepts. IM Essentials content is based on the CDIM/SGIM core curriculum for the internal medicine clerkship and covers material students will likely encounter on the medicine shelf and USMLE Step 2 examinations.

About the American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization and the second-largest physician group in the United States. ACP members include 141,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on Twitter and Facebook.

About the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine
Founded in 1989, the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine is the organization of individuals responsible for teaching internal medicine to medical students. CDIM establishes educational guidelines by developing, implementing, and disseminating ideas for curriculum, evaluation, research, administration, and career development. CDIM is a member of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine.