-->

February 11, 2012

Mnemonics, pneumonia and other words with silent first letters

So as in my last post, medical school is so full of information and memorization that the only way to retain any significant portion of it, you have to find funny and memorable ways to remember them.  Having spent some time trying to find a simple one for the last post, I ran across a few others that are classics and/or are just downright funny, and you quickly realize that the more crude, the easier to remember (in fact most of them are, and I had trouble finding some PG examples).  I know it's not intuitive to those without science backgrounds but you get the point.

Signs of a heart attack: "PULSE"
Persistent chest pains
Upset stomach
Lightheadedness
Shortness of breath
Excessive sweating
Hand bones:
"She Looks Too Pretty; Try TCatch Her": Scaphoid Lunate Triquetrium Pisiform TrapeziumTrapezoid Capate Hamate
Branches of the iliac artery, one of the big-uns:
What Bill admitted to Hilary: "I Milked Our Insatiable Intern's Udders Under the Desk": Inferior gluteal Middle rectal Obturator Inferior vesical artery Internal pudendal artery Umbilical U/D=Uterine artery (female)/ Deferential artery (male)
Nerves tested when you check reflexes:
One, two-- buckle my shoe. Three, four-- kick the door. Five, six-- pick up sticks. Seven, eight-- shut the gate. (S1,2 = ankle jerk L3,4 = knee jerk C5,6 = biceps and brachioradialis C7,8 = triceps)
Some other funny mnemonics that I won't include explanations for

Management of severe asthma (pardon the French!): "O SH!T"
Causes of acute pancreatitis: "GET SMASH'D"
Takayasu's Disease (pulseless disease): when you have Takayasu's, I can't Taka-ya-pulse
Branches of the Axillary Artery: "Screw the lawyer, save a patient"
Cranial bones: "Frat parties occasionally teach spam etiquette"

No comments: