Case based textbook reading in the residency curriculum

From a recent paper:

Textbook reading plays a foundational role in a resident’s knowledge base. Many residency programs place residents on identical reading schedules, regardless of the clinical work or rotation the resident is doing. We sought to develop a reading curriculum that takes into account the clinical work a resident is doing so their reading curriculum corresponds with their clinical work. Preliminary data suggests an increased amount of resident reading and an increased interest in reading as a result of this change to their reading curriculum.

Long live the textbook. After evidence based medicine “became a thing” there were some who went so far as to recommend against reading textbooks. The idea was that there should be a singular focus on looking up answers to focused clinical questions at the point of care, a process known as “foreground reading.” Textbook reading is considered background reading. I contend both are important and dealt with the question in more detail here.