Auscultatory areas

Thanks to anonymous reader for correcting a major error in this post.
Auscultatory areas starting from left 2nd intercostal space:
Remember: All Patients Take Medicines
Aortic - Pulmonary - Tricuspid - Mitral
Note:

• Only Aortic area is on right ; Remember that All stands for aortic area - read as Aortic ll (Second) ; Because it's in 2nd IC space !
• If you want to remember the other intercostal spaces where the auscultatory areas on left are situated just remember " Lot no.245 " - Left 2, 4, 5 IC spaces in that order for Pulmonary, Tricuspid, Mitral in that order of All Patients Take Medicine.
• Confusion buster: Please note that Aorta arises from left ventricle, but auscultatory area is on right side. Note the same problem with Pulmonary artery.
• Also check our older posts - Aorta and IVC : left or right ? 

History taking : Description of symptoms

The history of specific symptoms have to be described in this order:
Remember that a good doctor takes a good history before he OPERATES

Onset of symptoms
Progression
Exacerbating factors
Relieving factors
Associated symptoms
Time relation of symptoms ( Night pain etc )
Episodic nature ( Symptom free intervals etc )
Systemic inquiry related to symptom

Music to Improve Your Memory and Concentration

This Music Album By Dr. Mythili, "Music Therapy: Music To Enhance Intellect and Creativity" is supposed to increase your memory and concentration.

Buy mp3 At GreatIndieMusic.com

Micro organisms which don't Gram stain well

 List of Microbes which may not gram stain well:
Remember: " These Microscopic Rascals May Look Colourless "
Treponema
Mycobacteria 
Rickettsia
Mycoplasma
Legionella
Chlamydia

Mind Maps in Medicine : Book preview

Mind maps helps to store a lot of information pictorially. Helps in quick and frequent revision. make your own mind maps, laminate them and take with you to revise anywhere ! See the mind map for Rheumatic fever to see how effective it is.

Clinical Pharmacology Made Incredibly Easy : Free Download

Finding it difficult to learn pharmacology? This is a great book from the "made incredibly easy" series.  Download this book - Lots of pictures and mnemonics. Remember Pharmacology better.

Good Pasture's Syndrome

In Good Pasture's syndrome, there is auto antibodies against Glomeruli (causing Glomerulonephritis ) & Pulmonary basement membrane ( causing Pneumonitis )

Interactive Microbiology, Genetics for better memory

Ever thought Neuroscience, DNA, RNA, Karyotyping, ELISA test, stem cells, immunology, genetics etc are tough topics. Well, if you want to make these topics easier and remember them better go to http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/index.html
This site has lots of downloads - videos, lectures, pdfs etc in these topics. Do check out all the topics. There is a virtual lab, where you can do ELISA for SLE, Identify bacteria using PCR and all those advanced techniques. (Please make sure that you have the latest version of shockwave flash). Virtual classroom lectures help in easy learning. Many do and learns help you to remember better.

Glycolysis, Krebs cycle mnemonic video

Watch this video role play taking you through cellular respiration. Glycolysis is depicted by the "heroine" in a very funny way that you will remember the cycle stepwise with the structure of molecules involved, ATP transactions etc. Kreb's (TCA) cycle represented as "doll play". This is different method to remember the complex cycles. In case you want to download this video click here.

Number mnemonic game

Play this digit mnemonic memory game. You will get some idea to remember complex numbers.

Differential diagnosis : book preview

This book has a mnemonic oriented approach to differential diagnosis. Say for example, the causes of earache are represented as a picture. Also, they have tried to list the causes of various conditions by using the mnemonics "MINT" which stands for Malformations, Inflammatory, Neoplasms, Trauma  and "VINDICATE" which stands for Vascular, Inflammatory, Neoplasms, Deficiancy, Intoxication, Congenital/Collagen, Allergic/Autoimmune, Trauma, Endocrine. Go through this book below to get mnemonics for causes of earache, dyspnea, edema, diarrhea, cough, constipation, eye pain etc - all with picture mnemonics.

`Link method` memory technique

Find out how to memorise a list of words using the 'link method' from the video below :

Mitosis and Meosis

• Stages of mitosis:

( Remember PROfessor MAT taught us Mitosis )
PROphase
Metaphase
Anaphase
Telophase

• Stages of meosis are Prophase-I, Metaphase-I, Anaphase-I, Telophase-I, followed by Prophase-II, Metaphase-II, Anaphase-II, Telophase-II

( Remember PROfessor MAT taught me meosis twice - I & II )

• mItosis gives 2 dIploid daughter ceels
• MEosis keeps ME very HAPpy with 4 HAPloid daughter cells
  

ACLS - Advanced mnemonics A to Z

abcdefg.....xyz of ACLS !

Seronegative spondyloarthropathies

Sero negative spondyloarthropathies are:
Remember RAP(P)E -
R- Reiters syndrome
A- Ankylosing spondylitis
P- Psoriatic arthropathy
P- Pseudogout
E- Enteropathic arthritis(chrons disease,ulcerative colitis,behchets syndrome)

This mnemonic was sent by Mr. Kamal A.P. for benefit of all our readers. Thanks again.

Fluid and Electrolyte Imbalance

Finding it difficult to remember fluid and electrolyte imbalance? Well, try this book:

Sister Mary Joseph Node

To remember the named signs, it would be better to know a little bit of history. There might be an interesting incident related to a person who gave the name of the sign / syndrome. One such interesting case is how Sister Mary Joseph node got it's name. Also called Sister Mary Joseph sign, refers to a palpable nodule bulging into the umbilicus as a result of metastasis of a malignant cancer in the pelvis or abdomen.

To remember this sign better, let's go back to history. Imagine these events:
Scene: St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester; Dr. Mayo is taking rounds with Sr. Mary Joseph, his surgical assistant helping him.Sr. Mary drew Mayo's attention to the phenomenon, and he published an article about it in 1928.
Now remember this better with the picture given below.

Puddle's Sign

Some signs can be better understood and remembered by knowing the meaning of word. Of course, most of the signs are named after people, but we are lucky to have few signs otherwise. For example, when I asked one medical student why Puddle's sign is named so, he told me that it was named after Dr. Puddle and he didnot remember what the sign was about.

So what's a puddle? A puddle is a small collection of liquid, usually we refer to a puddle of water in the ground after a rain etc. This is used to detect minimal fluid collection in the abdomen i.e. minimal ascitis.

Now to remember, you have the picture given below. There's a puddle, a sign board reading 120 ml and a Gorilla. Puddle sign can detect ascitis as less as 120 ml. What's the Gorilla doing there? The Gorilla's position is the position we use to elicit puddle sign. To make this more clear, let us see how to elicit this sign.

 Let patient lie prone for 5 minutes, after which he/she has to rise on his/her elbow and knees (that's like the Gorilla!) and by the method of auscultatory percussion you find that there is resonant note in the flanks and dull note towards the center of abdomen i.e. the puddle forms at the central part of abdomen.

Anticoagulant in Pregnancy

Which anticoagulant can be used in pregnancy? Heparin or Warfarin?
Answer is Heparin. WARfarin SHOULD NOT BE used. Remember: There SHOULD NOT BE WAR IN pregnancy.

Treatment of Leprosy

For Paucibacillary Leprosy -

• Daily - Dapsone 100 mg 
• Monthly - Rifampicin  600 mg
• Duration: 6 months 

For Multibacillary Leprosy -

• Daily - Dapsone 100 mg + Clofazamine 50 mg
• Monthly - Rifampicin 600 mg + Clofazamine 300 mg
• Duration: 2 yrs 

Remember this with the formula D / R for paucibacillary and DC / RC for multibacillary 
Explanation: The denominator is the monthly drug to be taken. In case of multibacillary leprosy, note that the dose of Clofazamine, be it monthly or daily, is half the dose of other drug taken along with it ( 100 / 2 = 50, 600 / 2 = 300 ). Duration of treatment is 1/2 yrs and 2 yrs for Pauci & Multibacillary leprosy respectively.

Indicators of fecal water pollution

Which of these is a bio indicator of past pollution with fecal matter?
a) Faecal Streptococci  b) Clostridium perfringens c) both  d) none

The answer is b.

How to remember:
Cl. perfringes is an indicator of past water pollution
Also remember that the indicator of recent water pollution is Faecal Streptococci ( Recent = Short term - Streptococci )

Muscles of leg : Song video

A song with video will help you remember the key muscles of lower limb.

Chest pain : What attending nurses should do

In case the attending nurse sees a patient with chest pain, she should MOVE the patient to emergency care unit:
Remember MOVE:
Monitor (cardiac monitor) connect
Oxygen administration
Venous access with large bore canula
ECG to be taken

Enzyme deficiancy in Phenylketonuria

PHenylketonuria - Enzyme deficient is Phenylalanine Hydroxylase

Bone & Cartilage - Collagen types

• bONE is made of type ONE collagen; Alternatively see the picture of bone which looks like '1'

• CARTilage is made of type two collagen. See the picture of cart with '2' inside the cart. Alternatively remember carTWOlage
• Still if you find it confusing remember B of bone comes before C of cartilage; B-1, C-2. 

Structures behind medial malleolus

Structures that pass behind medial malleolus deep to flexor retinaculum (From anterior to posterior):
Remember: Tall Doctors Are Never Hungry.
Tibialis posterior,
flexor Digitorum longus,
posterior tibial Artery,
tibial Nerve,
flexor Hallucis longus tendon

NB: Please note that a correction has been made to this blog on 16-12-2009. The mistake was pointed out by G. Murray. Thank you Murray. 

TCA / Krebs cycle - Video mnemonics

Do something or rather go to any extent to learn these complex cycles. Below are few youtube picks for remembering Kreb's cycle. Each video has made an analogy to help remember the cycle better. But in case you want regular mnemonics, check http://medicalmnemonics4u.blogspot.com/2009/11/citric-acid-cycle.html

Here's the first video - Marching band analogy of Kreb's cycle:


Taking one step further, here's the children's building block analogy to Kreb's:


Ok, how about a Kreb's Rap song?