Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Dealing with stress and studying before exams for medical students

"I am overwhelmed with exams. I have an anatomy exam coming up. I am slowly beginning to lose hope. Advice would be very much appreciated, thank you!" -Asked on Tumblr

Medicine does get overwhelming. Mostly because no matter how much you study, you will always feel under prepared. It's normal to feel this way.

But don't let it get to you. This part is important because if you feel hopeless, you won't work as much as you should and the guilt will feedback. You need to break the cycle and focus on what's in front of you. There is always hope.

Take a deep breath. Say this aloud - "I've got this. I can do this."

Exercise. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people kill exams!
(Do 20 jumps right now and then read further :D )

Laugh. It's a mature defense mechanism. You'll learn it in psychology. (Another reason for you to survive anatomy right now - so you can read new things next year!)
Acknowledge that you're stressed, laugh about it and be okay with it. Or pretend to be. Fake it till you make it. (PS: If you fake laughter, you'll end up laughing for real.)

Smile. Look at this smiley (:
It's smiling at you, please smile back!
Laughing and smiling alone is a HUGE stress buster.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Tissue plasminogen activator mnemonic

Greetings people!

Tissue plasminogen activator is an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin, the enzyme responsible for clot breakdown.

It is used in the treatment of embolic or thrombotic stroke.
Contraindicated in hemorrhagic stroke and head trauma. The antidote for tPA in case of toxicity is epsilon aminocaproic acid.

Mnemonic is, "TPA"

T - Thrombotic and embolic stroke (Use)
P - Plasmin (Mechanism of action)
A - Aminocaproic acid (Antidote)

The dose mnemonic is, "TPA" again!

T for ten:
10% of dose given as bolus.

P mirrored looks like a 9:
0.9 mg/kg dose, maximum 90 mg.

A for an hour:
Rest of the dose is given as an infusion lasting for 60 minutes.

That's all!
-IkaN

Dominant hemisphere and handedness

Hello!
This is practical exam related concept.

In a patient with neurological symptoms, you'd like to know whether the person is left handed or right handed. Why?

Dominant hand is important in medicine because it helps us figure out the dominant hemisphere - especially, in patients with stroke.

People who are right handed have their left cerebral hemisphere dominant. 70% left handed people are left hemisphere dominant.

To figure out handedness, you can ask the person with which hand he writes. If illiterate - You can ask with which hand he prefers to eat, combs hair, etc.

Threading a needle is an excellent way to determine handedness because very frequently people tend to hold the thread in the dominant hand and hold the needle with the non dominant hand.

That's all!
I'm left cerebral hemisphere dominant. You?
-IkaN

Submissions: Microbiology notes

More submitted notes here! :)

Submissions: Cardiovascular system notes

If you cannot read or understand anything or want me to send you a picture of any chart, just let me know! - Dr. Neelofer

Lines of Zahn

Question: Does a recent thrombus contain lines of Zahn?

Asked by: Maham

Answer: Yes.

Submissions: Hematology and Oncology notes

More notes. Yaay! Submitted to us by Dr. Neelofer.

Submissions: Reproductive system notes

These were submitted to us by Dr. Neelofer.

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Breath sounds mnemonic

Breath sounds! 

Vesicular sounds:
Inspiration is longer than expiration. No pause in between.
They are normal. 

Mnemonic:
VE is short. (Expiration is short)
VesI is long. (Inspiration is long)

Bronchial breath sounds:
Inspiration and expiration occupy the same duration of time and are separated by a pause. 
Heard in: Consolidation or a large cavity. 

Mnemonic:
B for Bronchial, B for Both are equal.

Broncho-vesicular sounds:
Both are equal with a pause.
Heard in: Bronchial asthma, Emphysema. 
Mnemonic:
The B for Both are equal. The hyphen reminds me of the pause.

That's all!
Everything is awesome :D
-IkaN

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Side effects of atypical antipsychotics mnemonic

Hello!

In this post, I'll be talking about some side effects of antipsychotics and a few mnemonics that help me remember the same!

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) treatment mnemonic

"HI BCR ABL"

Submissions: USMLE notes

Hello... This is Neelofer.
This is especially for all those people who are preparing for Step 1 and reading First Aid 2014.
It will save tons of your time. (I have been preparing these mnemonics since September 2014 or so!)
It would be best if one opens First Aid 2014 along with these mnemonics. Good luck!! :)

Monday, December 22, 2014

Triangles of the neck diagram and mnemonic

Hello!
This post focuses only on boundaries of various triangles in the neck. Let's do this!

Triangles of the neck

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

How to make concise medical notes

Making concise notes is easy!

Write key words, no sentences allowed.
Use arrows, mini organs instead of words.

Flow charts are awesome.

Draw diagrams, write points in it.
Number your points, so that you have a nice flow while revising what you wrote.

Here's an example -



Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Trichomonas vaginalis mnemonic

Hello!
I make lists of words so that I remember about them (especially for theory exams!)
Here's another list for Trichomonas - Key word, "TRICHOMONAS"

Tubal ectopic pregnancy mnemonic

Hello.
We'll be learning some points and concepts about tubal ectopic pregnancy today! I tied em up together in a mnemonic, "TUBAL"

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Pathology brain tumors mnemonic

Hello, my favorite brainy people of the internet!
We'll be talking about some brain tumors today.
All of the mnemonics might not work for you, so take only what you need :)

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Fothergills repair or Manchester operation mnemonic

Hello everyone!
We'll be learning about one of the operations used in the treatment of vaginal prolapse.
It's Fothergills operation and I'll be sharing a mnemonic I use to remember the points about the operation.
Fothergills repair is also known as Manchester operation.
So the mnemonic for Fothergills repair is, "MANCHESTer"

Thursday, December 11, 2014

What is the significance of pain during child birth?

Question:
What is the need of pain during delivery of a baby? I'm not asking the physiological mechanism. I believe that nature doesn't make a process painful unnecessarily and I wish to understand the importance.
Asked by:
Rahu Ketu
Answer:
To help make the essential arrangements for the birth of the child.
Insight:
To make it simpler for you, I'll tell you what happens when the pregnant woman does not experience labor pains. It's called precipitate labor. You'll read about it in forensic and medical toxicology in second year.

Hirsutism mnemonic

The mnemonic for causes of hirsutism is, "Hair On Chin"

Dermoid cyst mnemonic

The mnemonic to remember points to be written on dermoid cyst is, "DERMOID CYST"