Medical software for Android mobile : Epocrates

This is a fantastic software which I personally used. Revise your pharmacology, check for drug interactions on the go. You need internet, preferably wifi connection for first downloading and updating the data and completing the free registration but later you have all stored in your android mobile. There are also lots of calculators including pregnancy wheel, drug dosing calculator, mean arterial pressure, Parkland's formula, Pediatric maintainace fluid calculator, unit conversions etc to name a few. Another useful utility for quick revision and memory are the "tables" - Includes steps in ACLS - The ABCDs, Bradycardia, Rapid sequence intubation, Tachycardia etc ; Antibiotic regimen tables; Drug classes table (comparison of corticosteroids, etc); Endocrinology - Insulin comparison; Pediatric vaccinations; Glassgow coma scale; Apgar score; Normal lab values in adults....... and the vast list goes on.
The software is available for all mobile platforms including iPod/iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, Windows mobile etc.

Components of breast milk

Here is a mnemonic sent by Khairul Anwar to remember components of breast milk:
Fatty Silly Mommies in Washington Loves to Puke their nEonates, But In North America, 3 Ladies Unsaturate their fats
The first letters stand for:
Fat, Salt, Minerals, Water, Lactose, Protein, Enzymes; Bifidus factor, Interferon, Non-specific factors, Antibodies, Lactoferrin, Leucocytes, Lysozyme, Unsaturated fatty acids

Pediatric Milestones - 2

This is an alternative to our earlier post regarding pediatric milestones. Contributed by Youtube video user AlMarGhoub. If you are a playstaion player, you will remember the milestones thus:
Start at 3 O'clock  position of the 4 buttons of right side of PSP pad. You will see that the button is marked with a circle. So at 3 O'clock position - at 3 yrs, child can draw a circle. Now, go clockwise along the buttons; you will see the buttons are marked with a cross, square and triangle in that order. These stand for what the child can draw at 4, 5 and 6 yrs!

Wilm's Tumor - Mnemonics notes

Introducing new mnemonic notes. Make your own notes with mnemonics embeded. Take for instance this notes on Wilm's tumor. Try to remember the facts with the 'W' of Wilms as shown below:

Causes of Chronic Diarrhoea

Remember the 5 Cs as Causes of Chronic diarrhoea:
Crohn's disease
Colitis (Ulcerative) or Ulcerative Colitis
Coeliac diseases
Cystic fibrosis
Cow's milk intolerance

Milestones in Pediatrics

Child draws a circle at 3 years, cross at 4 years, square at 5 years and triangle at 6 years.

I think that the visual mnemonic is self explanatory. Start from head ( Circle ), imagine the ears to be '3'. Put them together and remember that child draws circle at 3 yrs. After 3, remember what the child draws at 4,5 and 6 yrs by coming down from the top of the figure. After head, you see the cross necklace - at 4 yrs. Come down further, imagine the body to be a square ( at 5 yrs ). The frock represents triangle which child draws at 6 yrs. 

Erb's and Klumpke's brachial palsies

Erb's - Upper trunk ( C5, C6 ) {See the picture mnemonic above -  imagine the '6' to resemble 'b' of erbs ; 's' resembles '5' }
Klumpke's - Lower Trunk ( C7, C8, T1 )
Remember 'E' comes before 'K' in alphabetical order, so Erb's is upper and Klumpke's lower trunk.
Now Klumpke's start with C7. Note that K-L-U-M-P-K-E is 7 letters.

Behcet's syndrome

What is Behcet's syndrome
Remember BOOG
Behcet's is Oro - Oculo - Genital syndrome

Fallot's Triad, Tetrad and Pentad

To remember the Fallots, read this story along with the picture mnemonic :

Characters in the story and what they represent:

Ant - ASD

Parrot - Pulmonary stenosis

Rabbit - Right Ventricular Hypertrophy ( RVH )

Owl - Overriding of Aorta

Vulture - VSD

'3' represents Fallot's Triad, '4' - Tetrology of Fallot, '5' - Fallot's Pentad

The story: The Ant, Parrot and Rabbit ( 3 ) were living happily. Vulture and Owl are coming at 4 o'clock - an announcement informed them. The Ant was afraid that it would be eaten and went away in fear. At 4 o'clock the Vulture and Owl came. So there was the Owl, Vulture, Parrot and Rabbit ( 4 ) living together now. The newcomers came to know about the Ant. They promised that they won't eat the ant. So the Ant came back and all the 5 (Owl, Ant, Vulture, Parrot and Rabbit ) lived happily ever after.

Now, just substitute what the animals / insects / birds originally represent and you will remember the Fallots.

If it's not clear, watch this video below :

Congenital heart disease producing cyanosis

They all begin with 'T' :

Tetrology of Fallot

Transposition of great vessels

Truncus arteriosis

Tricuspid atresia

Total pulmonary anomalous venous return

Kawasaki's Disease

This visual mnemonic gives you the clinical features of Kawasaki disease. Imagine a Child on Kawasaki bike with red lips, tongue, body rash with cervical lymphadenopathy having a heart thrash ( Coronary aneurysm ) seeing a beautiful nurse who has the treatment needed for him. Note that Kawasaki disease is C- ANCA +ve as painted on the bike. The clinical features are depicted as a song, which you can try to sing in the tune of Titanic's song, "my heart will go on...."

Pulled Elbow

Pulled elbow is seen in Pediatric population ( 2-5 yrs ). Clinical feature - Forearm is in Pronation. 

Till what age can you expect pulled ELBOW - Count the number of letters in elbow = 5 --> 5 yrs.

Sprengel's shoulder

SprEngel's ShouldEr means Scapula Elevated congenitally

Complications of Undescended Testis

Remember ASEPTIC:

Atrophy,

Sterlity,

Epididymo orchitis,

Pain,

Torsion,

Indirect inguinal hernia,

Carcinoma