Treatment of AMS in ED – Mnemonic

The contributor of this medical mnemonic is Sean. Thank you!

For patients who present to the ED with altered mental status you should always BeGiN FLUIDS

B1 (thiamine deficiency)
Glucose (hypoglycemic)
Naloxone (opioid intox)
FLUIDS (dehydration)

Note: although AMS (Altered Mental Status) might be due to hyperosmolar hyperglycemia in type II DM, raising the blood glucose by 100 pts will not significantly worsen their condition, while failing to treat hypoglycemia can have profound consequences

Triple Screen Test mnemonic

It is not exactly a mnemonic, but a good way to remember some details about triple screen test.

To increase the sensitivity for detecting chromosomal abnormalities labs use the Triple Screen Test.

TRI-ple screen test is used for TRI-somy 18 and TRI-somy 21 (both 18 and 21 are TRI-somies and can be divided by 3). TRI-ple screen is test for MSAFP, estriol and beta-hCG.

In TRI-somy 18 everything is low.

TRI-somy 21 can be present like 2+1, which means that the first 2 are low and the second one is high (there is a + sign in front 1, which shows that the levels are high). Now, the question is, how to remember which one of MSAFP, estriol and beta-hCG is high. In Down syndrome there is a high amount of beta-amyloid (cause for Alzheimer’s Dz before 40 years of age). The other beta thing that is increased in Down syndrome is beta-hCG. Now, there is no way to forget what I just said.

Just a little point: in spina bifida AFP is high. Think that AFP leaks out trough the openings in the spinal column (the term spina bifida comes from Latin and literally means “split” or “open” spine) and its level is high. In Down syndrome the AFP level is down. This is kind of easy to remember.

Heart murmurs mnemonic — systolic vs. diastolic

The contributor of this medical mnemonic is Kate. Thank you!

I always find myself getting confused on which murmurs or systolic vs. diastolic, but knew that once I got them in the right phase of the cycle I’d be able to differentiate them.

With that in mind and my weird logic… and knowing that there’s one Aortic and Mitral and one regurg and stenosis in each half… May I introduce:

Ms. Dee Sas

MS (mitral stenosis) = Diastolic (and thus aortic regurg as well).
SAS = systolic aortic stenosis (and thus mitral regurg).

From there, you just have to remember a few key words… continuous, click, crescendo-descrendo, etc.

Using this helped me SIGNIFICANTLY not only on my cardiovasc pathophys unit, but also on step 1 and on the wards.

Murmurs recognition – part 1

This is a guest post from vanumu . You can also find and follow him on twitter @vanstar7. I am a huge fan of his work.

Let’s review the basics!

Blood flow through the heart

Let’s look at the basic flow of blood through the heart using a simple diagram.

Deoxygenated Blood flows from the body into the right atrium (RA).

Then it travels through the the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle(RV).

Secondary Hypertension Mnemonic

95% of hypertension is primary (idiopathic). 5% is secondary and causes include CHAPS:

Cushing’s syndrome

Hyperaldosteronism (Conn’s syndrome)

Aortic coarctation

Pheochromocytoma

Stenosis of the renal arteries

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Arrhythmia treatment options

This is a guest post from vanumu . You can also find and follow him on twitter @vanstar7. I am a huge fan of his work.

Essential concept lies with recognizing if the patient is stable or unstable.
UNSTABLE = “Chest pain, Shortness of Breath, Hypotension, Confusion means you’re not getting enough perfusion” (Dr.Fisher) = SHOCK!

For stable patients, you can consider medical management.

Here is the mnemonic I use to remember the drugs for each type of arrhythmia. Click on the image for a larger view.

Laboratory values mnemonics

Laboratory values medical mnemonics. This is a tough one. It is difficult to remember lab values especially if you don’t work with them on a daily base. This mnemonic I found on the web, but it looks more like a draft and I would like to fix it with your help guys. I will appreciate if you submit any lab values mnemonic and we can try to come up with a full list of mnemonics for almost all important lab values.

K+ 3.5 – 5
Ca+ 4.5.- 5
Mg 1.5-2.5
Phos 1.8-2.6
Na+ 135-145
Cl 95-105
Crt .5-1.2
BUN 10-20
PTT 60-70 or 1 ½ times higher if on Heparin
PT 11.0 – 12.5 or 2.o -3.5 times higher if on coumadin
INR 2.0-3.5 for coumadin
WBC 5-10
RBC 5
HCT 40
Hgb 15
pH 7.35-7.45 (40)
co2 35-35

. For me I’m going to remember:

Megaloblastic anemia medical mnemonic

USMLE medical mnemonic.

Drugs causing Megaloblastic Anemia:

M–>Methotrexate

A–>AZT=Zidovudine

P–>Phenytoin (Fenytoin–>Folate deficiency)

L–>Liver Disease (speaking of the MC drug Alcohol, think of Liver as well)

E–>Ethanol

The MC drug is Ethanol. This is easy to remember. You cannot buy drugs like Methotrexate, AZT or Phenytoin OTC, but you can cause yourself liver disease and megaloblastic anemia using the ethanol=alcohol, because it is so easy to buy it. Alcohol is not OTC drug, alcohol is OTS drug, which means On The Shelf drug. Everybody can buy alcohol, and that is why ethanol is the MCC of Megaloblastic Anemia and many other disease. The second MC killer in US right after cigarettes smoking.

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Felty's Syndrome medical mnemonic

Felty’s Syndrome medical mnemonic for USMLE.

Felty’s syndrome is the arthritis in which the spleen can be felt-y on palpation (enlarged spleen = splenomegaly) + neutropenia (low WBCs count).

WBC count mnemonic

WBC Count:
“Nobody Likes My Educational Background”
“60, 30, 6, 3, 1″
Neutrophils 60%
Lymphocytes 30%
Monocytes 6%
Eosinophils 3%
Basophils 1%

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Alternative version: The contributor of this medical mnemonic is Kristen. Thank you!

For the order of prevalence of white blood cells:

Never — Neutrophils
Let — Leukocytes
Monkeys — Monocytes
Eat — Eosinophils
Bananas — Basophils