Asthma. Intermittent or persistent?

Those suffering from intermittent asthma do not need daily medications to maintain good control. On the other hand, those with persistent asthma will need daily maintenance medications to prevent exacerbations. Luckily for us, there is a rule of thumb that will help make the clinical distinction between intermittent and persistent asthma easier.

This rule of thumb is the “rule of twos” (abbreviated as Ro2). This is a quick and easy checklist to go through with your patients. If they answer “yes” to any of the rules of two, asthma is considered to be “persistent” or inadequately controlled.

• Are they symptomatic more than 2 days a week?
• Are they requiring their rescue inhaler more than 2 days per week?
• Are they experiencing nighttime symptoms more than 2 days per month?
• Are they requiring a course of oral steroids more than 2 times a year?

Hopefully some of you can put the Ro2 to use in practice!

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Have a great week! Good luck to those studying for exams.

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Fetal monitoring

During delivery, you’ll most certainly be asked to keep an eye on the fetal heart monitoring strip.

“VEAL CHOP” is a memory trick to remember what each of the patterns mean. The first word of the mnemonic, “veal”, represents the different patterns you may observe. The second word, “chop”, tells you what each pattern indicates about the state of the fetus. The first letter of “veal” corresponds with the first letter of “chop”, the second letter of “veal” corresponds with the second letter of “chop”. etc.

V = variable

E = early accelerations

A = accelerations

L = late decelerations

C = cord compression

H = head compression

O = OK (i.e. it’s all good!)

P = placental insufficiency

“HELP VC” is another one you can use to remember the causes of decelerations

HE = head compression –>early

LP = late–>placental insufficiency

VC = variable–> cord compression

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Have a great week! Thanks for reading. Happy studying.

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Click here to share a mnemonic for a future edition of The Weekly Mnemonic.

Hematology refresher

If you find hematology-oncology tough, The Weekly Mnemonic can relate. So this week’s offering is a little memory aid to help remember  signs of multiple myeloma. Hopefully it leaves you feeling less crabby during your studies. :)

C = calcium elevated (i.e. hypercalcemia)

R = renal failure (i.e. myeloma nephrosis)

A = anemia (think bone marrow infiltration)

B = bone lesions (i.e. osteolytic lesions, fractures)

This mnemonic comes from Step Up To Medicine by S. and E. Agabegi (find it on p. 351 of 3rd ed)

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Thanks for reading!!

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Triads, pentads and classic presentations (part 11)

Apologies for not having posted in a while! The Weekly Mnemonic is back with number 11 of the “Triads” series. This time, 3 triads with the focus is on women’s health are presented.

Meig’s syndrome will resolve with resection of the benign ovarian mass and consists of the triad of: 1) ascites 2) pleural effusion 3) benign ovarian tumour.

The female athlete triad consists of 3 conditions and is found in females participating in sports activities which value a low body weight: 1) eating disorder 2) amenorrhea 3) osteoporosis or osteopenia.

Polycystic ovary syndrome is an anovulatory state which includes the following 3 classic findings: 1) signs of hyperandrogenism (hirsutism, acne, hair loss, etc.) 2) oligomenorrhea or amenorrhea 3) polycystic appearance of ovaries on ultrasound.

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Happy Easter! Thanks for reading and/or following the blog. :)

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