Monday, December 26, 2016

ekg rate

Mnemonics 300-150-100-75-60-50
300/n


300/1 = 300
300/2 = 150
300/3 = 100
300/4 = 75
300/5 = 60
300/6 = 50



Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Resources list


Resources List Compiled by Qt

EKG:
EKG Basic steps: https://kchemekg.wordpress.com/ekg-test-home/
EKG Basic steps: http://rebelem.com/ecg-basics/
EKG Cases: http://hqmeded-ecg.blogspot.com/

Clinical guidelines resources:
Medscape www.medscape.com (my personal favorite resource, FREE but you have to register, highly organized and pretty updated).

Uptodate www.uptodate.com (very expensive $$$, lots of entries, some even said that they contain more articles than medscape)

Dynamed

Essentialevidenceplus www.essentialevidenceplus.com (not really my favorite because it looks like it's a big database of original or cochrane reviews but it's not organized for quick review like uptodate or medscape. Yet, it has lots of entries. You can try it out for free in 30 days to get a feel of it.)




Gastroenterology (GI):
American College Gastroenterology - Clinical Guidelines: http://gi.org/clinical-guidelines/clinical-guidelines-sortable-list/ (very useful resource for several key GI conditions)

GI Pathology association - GI pathology CME courses: http://usgips.com/resources/gi-pathology-courses/ (probably too high a level for general non-pathology GI NP students like me)



Suture skill:
http://www.lectoro.com/index.php?action=search&ytq=Duke%20Suture%20Skills%20Course
http://www.theapprenticedoctor.com/elearning/suture/


Learning skills:
Online learning: https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/five-step-strategy-for-student-success-with-online-learning/ 
Study tips: https://meded.ucsd.edu/index.cfm/ugme/oess/study_skills_and_exam_strategies/how_to_study_actively/

Surgery:
Ambulatory: http://fitsweb.uchc.edu/student/selectives/Luzietti/Ambulatory_Surgery_mainpage.htm
Old texts: http://www.meb.uni-bonn.de/dtc/primsurg/index.html
Pt edu for surgery: https://www.facs.org/education/patient-education/patient-resources/operations



Case study:
http://reeldx.com/
http://www.celebritydiagnosis.com/ 



Endocrine:
https://medicine.yale.edu/intmed/endocrin/patient/Yale%20National%20F_50135_1095_4813.pdf

Opthalmology:
http://webeye.ophth.uiowa.edu/eyeforum/cases/case28.htm

Pt edu:
http://patient.info/








Sunday, December 11, 2016

learning resources

Online learning resources:

https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/five-step-strategy-for-student-success-with-online-learning/

Monday, December 5, 2016

neck strain xray = straightening of cervical curvature

What Is Straightening of the Normal Cervical Lordosis? Can It Cause Problems?

what is straightening of the normal cervical lordosis
The fact that the neck has a normal curve is an important and often overlooked issue. In many patients with neck pain, this curve goes away, leading to biomechanical problems that can cause degenerated discs. Now a new study shows that it can also cause decreased blood flow to the back of the brain!

What Is Straightening of the Normal Cervical Lordosis?

If you read a handful of neck X-ray reports, you’ll likely see that the radiologist has said on a few that there is “straightening of the normal cervical lordosis.” To understand what this is, you have to understand how the spine is constructed.what is straightening of the cervical lordosis
When the normal curve is lost, there are a number of terms used by the radiologist:
  • Straightening of the normal cervical lordosis
  • Loss of cervical lordosis
  • Straightening of the cervical lordosis
Your neck, upper back, and low back all have counterbalanced curves. One goes one way, and the adjoining curve goes the opposite way. When the curve points toward the front, it’s called a lordosis and toward the back, it’s called a kyphosis. These curves balance the force of the head and allow you to stand with minimal muscle energy. They also equally distribute the forces between the front of the individual vertebrae, where the disc is located, and the back of the verterbrae, where the facet joints live.

Why Is Straightening of the Normal Cervical Lordosis a Big Problem?

loss of cervical lordosisWhen you lose the normal neck curve, the weight of the head is no longer balanced by the opposing curve (kyphosis) in the upper back. This causes muscle power to be needed to keep the head upright. For example, in the picture to the right, the head is being held up by the muscles at the back of the neck, leading to overload where those muscles attach to the skull, causing headache pain. This also causes more weight to be transferred to the discs between the vertebrae, which can lead to more wear-and-tear disc degeneration.

How Does Straightening of the Normal Cervical Lordosis Happen?

One of the more common causes of straightening of the normal cervical lordosis is car crashes where the neck ligaments are damaged. Other causes are more insidious, like looking down all the time to interact with a cell phone, tightness in the chest wall and psoas from sitting too much, or just getting older.

New Research on Straightening of the Normal Cervical Lordosis

While we’ve known that straightening of the neck curve was bad news, a new study just upped the ante of bad stuff that happens when you have this problem. This research looked at 30 patients with and 30 matched controls without loss of cervical lordosis. Doppler ultrasound was used to measure the blood flow through the vertebral artery. This important blood vessel courses through holes in the neck bones, so it could be vulnerable if the relationships between the neck bones change. In the patients with loss of the normal neck curve, the diameter of the artery was small with less and slowed blood flow through the vessel. Yikes! Given that this is one of the major sources of blood flow to the brain, this could be a huge future problem for teenagers who have been glued to their phone since childhood!

How Can You Treat Straightening of the Normal Cervical Lordosis?

From a conservative-therapy standpoint, there are some nice programs specifically designed to get the curve back. One is used by chiropractors and uses special traction machines to fix the curve. Physical therapists can also work on stretching out and releasing the tight muscles in the chest and pelvis. If the neck ligaments are damaged, then highly precise injections into these ligaments using platelets or stem cells may help. Surgery is usually not recommended as a viable solution.
The upshot? We’ve known that the neck curve is a big deal in helping avoid structural overload and degeneration of muscles, tendons, and discs, but this new study is a bit scary. The fact that the blood supply to the brain is also impacted by this change is a big 


http://www.regenexx.com/what-is-straightening-of-the-normal-cervical-lordosis/

tibia vs fibula


o remember how to distinguish the fibula from the tibia, consider the “fib” and “l” parts of the word fibula. To tell a small lie is to fib. The fibula is smaller than the tibia, and is also lateral to it.
To remember where the talus is located, think that the talus is on top of the foot and articulates with the tibia.
http://www.judinath.com/tipstricksforana.html

Fibula vs. tibia: which is the bigger one

People talk of telling just a “little white lie”, or a “little fib”:
Therefore, the fibula is smaller.
• Alternatively: TIBia is the Thicker Inner Bone.
• Alternatively: “Little lat FIB, big fat TIB”.

Tibia & Fibula

Fragile: The Fibula is thin & fragile
Thick: Tibia is thick 

buckle fx

Torus fractures, also known as buckle fractures, are incomplete fractures of the shaft of a long bone that is characterised by bulging of the cortex. They result from trabecular compression from an axial loading force along the long axis of the bone. They are usually seen in children, frequently involving the distal radial metaphysis.

Epidemiology

These type of fractures are more common in children, especially aged 5-10 years, due to the elasticity of their bones.

Pathology

Cortical buckle fractures occur when there is axial loading of a long bone. This most commonly occurs at the distal radius or tibia following a fall on an outstretched arm; the force is transmitted from carpus to the distal radius and the point of least resistance fractures, usually the dorsal cortex of the distal radius.

Radiographic features

Plain radiograph
  • distinct fracture lines are not seen
  • subtle deformity or buckle of the cortex may be evident
  • in some cases, angulation is the only diagnostic clue

Treatment and prognosis

They are self-limiting and typically do not require operative intervention, although a manipulation may be required if the angulation is severe. Sometimes a cast may be applied, but often a splint is all that is required with a period of rest and immobilisation.

History and etymology

The term torus is derived from the Latin word tori which means protuberanceA torus is the convex portion of the upper part of the base of a Greek column (figure 1), and resembles the appearance of the cortical buckling seen in the "column" of bone which has been fractured in the pattern discussed in this article.

radiology

https://radiopaedia.org/
http://www.radiologymasterclass.co.uk/tutorials/musculoskeletal/x-ray_trauma_upper_limb/elbow_fracture_x-ray