Beat Resource Overload: Master Medicine with Fewer, Focused Tools

Maya Brooks

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the AI Med Tutor Podcast. I’m your co-host, Maya Brooks—your AI-generated fourth-year medical student—here to help make sense of medical training and connect it to real performance on exams and in the clinic.

Dr. Randy Clinch

And I’m Dr. Randy Clinch, a DO family medicine physician and medical educator. Today we’re tackling a problem that quietly sabotages a lot of good students: resource overload.

Maya Brooks

You mean that moment when your browser has seventeen tabs open, your phone has three different question banks, and you’ve got a “must watch” list that’s longer than the actual curriculum?

Dr. Randy Clinch

That’s the one. And here’s what makes this tricky: resource overload often feels like responsibility. It feels like you’re being thorough. But most of the time it does the opposite—it fragments attention, increases cognitive load, and creates a false sense of progress.

Maya Brooks

So in today’s episode, we’re going to give students a way to shift from chaos to discipline—how to pick two to three core resources per system and actually use them well.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Quick reminder: this is education, not medical advice. Let’s get into it.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Resource overload is not “having a lot of resources.” It’s switching resources so often that you never build mastery with any of them. It’s reading one paragraph in one book, then watching half of a video series, then doing ten questions, then feeling behind because someone online said you “have to” add another tool.

Maya Brooks

And it creates this weird situation where you’re busy all day but you can’t tell if you actually learned anything.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Right—and here’s the core problem: every resource has its own language, its own structure, its own way of organizing content. When you keep switching, you spend more mental energy translating than learning.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Let’s name the goal clearly. The goal is not to “cover resources.” The goal is to understand and grasp content, concepts, and connections. That’s what your brain needs in order to retrieve information under pressure and apply it in novel situations.

Maya Brooks

I love that. And it also means students don’t need to create more notes or rewrite everything.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Yes. In fact, for most students, making more notes is a trap. If you already have high-quality resources, your job is to learn from them and test yourself—not become your own textbook.

Maya Brooks

So why do smart students keep falling into this?

Dr. Randy Clinch

Three common reasons. First, anxiety. When you feel behind, adding a resource feels like taking control. Second, social proof. People share “resource stacks” like they’re recipes, and it makes students feel like they’re missing an ingredient. Third, misunderstanding what “high yield” means. High yield isn’t the resource everyone mentions. High yield is the resource that helps you reliably learn and retrieve.

Maya Brooks

So the fix isn’t finding the perfect resource. It’s building a disciplined system.

Dr. Randy Clinch

That’s the goal.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Here’s the rule: for each system, you choose two to three core resources and you commit to them. Not for the entire year necessarily—systems can change—but during that system block, those are the resources you use.

Maya Brooks

What counts as “core”?

Dr. Randy Clinch

Good question. Your core resources usually include one primary content framework resource—something that gives structure to the system. This can be a board-style review book, a curriculum-aligned resource, or a video platform that you actually finish. Then one question bank, because questions are not just assessment. They’re a learning tool. And if you need it, one clarifier resource—something you only use when you’re stuck. Not a second full curriculum. A targeted clarifier.

Maya Brooks

So the problem isn’t having access to more resources—it’s treating them all as required.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Exactly—most resources should be optional. Your core set should be small.

Maya Brooks

Okay, but students are going to ask: how do I pick the two to three?

Dr. Randy Clinch

Here’s a practical method. I call it the “Fit, Finish, and Feedback” test. First: Fit. Does this resource match how you learn? Do you actually understand it? Do you stay engaged? Second: Finish. Can you realistically complete it during this block? If it’s so big you only nibble, it’s not a core resource. Third: Feedback. Does it help you answer questions better over time? Your score trends and your review speed are your feedback.

Maya Brooks

So if someone has ten resources but isn’t improving on questions, that’s a red flag.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Yes. Improvement is your compass.

Maya Brooks

Let’s make this real. Can you walk through an example of how a student might choose their two to three resources for a system?

Dr. Randy Clinch

Absolutely. And first, quick disclaimer: this podcast is not sponsored by any resource or vendor. I’m not telling you to buy a specific product. I’m teaching you how to choose a small set that fits you and stick with it. So imagine an OMS-2 starting the cardiology block. They look at what they already have access to through the school, what they’ve used before, and what they can realistically finish. They pick one framework resource that gives them a clear structure for cardio—something with organized topics like ischemia, heart failure, valvular disease, arrhythmias. Then they pick one question bank as their daily driver, because that’s where retrieval and application get trained. Finally, they pick one clarifier resource for moments when something doesn’t click—like murmurs, EKG patterns, or hemodynamics—but they commit to using it only when they hit a specific sticking point. Now, here’s how the Fit, Finish, and Feedback test plays out. For Fit, they ask, “When I use this framework resource, do I actually understand what I’m reading or watching, or do I feel like I’m skimming and forgetting?” For Finish, they ask, “Can I complete the core cardio sections during this block without constantly falling behind?” And for Feedback, they track two things: do their question explanations make more sense week to week, and do their percentages trend upward in cardio topics? If the answer is yes, they don’t change resources mid-block. If the answer is no, they don’t add five more resources—they replace one piece of the core set, typically the framework resource, and they keep the roles the same.

Maya Brooks

That’s really helpful—because it gives students permission to make a decision, test it, and adjust without spiraling into twenty resources.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Exactly—and it keeps the learning clean. You’re not trying to drink from every firehose. You’re building mastery in one consistent structure.

Maya Brooks

Can we make this even simpler? Like—what role does each resource play?

Dr. Randy Clinch

Yes. Assign roles. Your framework resource helps you organize: “What is this system? What are the big buckets? What patterns matter?” Your question bank builds retrieval and application. Your clarifier resource is a spot tool for confusion. You use it to fix one gap, then you go back to your core. If you can’t name a role for a resource, it probably doesn’t belong in the core.

Maya Brooks

So it’s not “more is better.” It’s “roles are better.”

Dr. Randy Clinch

That’s it.

Maya Brooks

Let’s talk about the moment students get tempted—when a friend says, “You HAVE to use this new deck” or “everyone is watching this series.”

Dr. Randy Clinch

In that moment, don’t add it immediately. Run it through a quick filter. First: Is this replacing something, or is it adding? If it’s adding, you’re creating overload. Second: What problem is it solving? If the answer is vague—like “it’s high yield”—that’s not a real problem. Third: Can this be a clarifier instead of a core? If yes, keep it optional and targeted.

Maya Brooks

So the default answer is “not now.”

Dr. Randy Clinch

Most of the time, yes. Discipline means you protect the plan you already chose.

Maya Brooks

Okay, give them something they can do weekly.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Here’s a five-minute weekly resource audit. Ask yourself: What are my two or three core resources right now? Which one am I actually using consistently? What is giving me measurable progress? What am I using only because I feel guilty? Then you cut the guilt resources.

Maya Brooks

That’s so real. Students have entire subscriptions they keep open because they feel like they’re supposed to.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Right. Close the tab. Cancel the guilt. Keep the core.

Maya Brooks

We should connect this to clinical reasoning, because students think resource discipline is just about studying.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Yes. Resource discipline improves clinical reasoning because it forces repetition in the same framework. When you learn a system using the same content structure and repeatedly test it with questions, patterns become recognizable. That’s how illness scripts form. And when you’re not scattered, you have more mental bandwidth to notice hinge clues in a stem or in a patient.

Maya Brooks

So overload creates shallow familiarity with everything. Discipline creates deep recognition.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Well said.

Maya Brooks

Let’s finish with a simple plan they can use starting today.

Dr. Randy Clinch

Here it is. Pick your framework resource. Commit to it for this system. Pick your question bank. Schedule it. Pick one clarifier resource. Only use it when you’re stuck. Then decide what you are not using. Say it out loud: “Not this block.” And remember the goal: understand and grasp content, concepts, and connections.

Maya Brooks

And if you feel the chaos creeping back, do a five-minute audit and re-commit to your core.

Dr. Randy Clinch

That’s the reset button.

Maya Brooks

Alright, recap time. Resource overload isn’t having too many resources—it’s switching too often and never building mastery.

Dr. Randy Clinch

The fix is resource discipline: two to three core resources per system with clear roles—framework, questions, and a targeted clarifier.

Maya Brooks

And the goal isn’t to cover more. It’s to understand and grasp content, concepts, and connections.

Dr. Randy Clinch

That’s how you stop the chaos and start improving—on exams and on rotations.

Maya Brooks

That’s it for today’s episode of the AI Med Tutor Podcast. If you know someone drowning in tabs and resources, send this episode to them.

Dr. Randy Clinch

And remember: you don’t need more resources. You need a better system for using fewer resources well.

Maya Brooks

We’ll see you next week. And in the meantime—stay curious and keep learning!