Do we really need to know heart sounds well for step 1?

[schmartdoc]

I am really bad with interpreting heart sounds on practice questions, except for super-obvious ones like PDA. Do we really need to learn them or are the vignettes enough?

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[purplelife]

I am really bad with interpreting heart sounds on practice questions, except for super-obvious ones like PDA. Do we really need to learn them or are the vignettes enough?

It's hard for me to tell by listening too, but I think the vignettes provide enough clues for us to decide. I would like to know the answer to this too.

 

[schmartdoc]

It's hard for me to tell by listening too, but I think the vignettes provide enough clues for us to decide. I would like to know the answer to this too.

Yes that's what I've been able to do for all the practice questions I've had this far....I dont even open the media file, but I want to know whether this is possible for the real thing.

 

[tartesos]

Yes that's what I've been able to do for all the practice questions I've had this far....I dont even open the media file, but I want to know whether this is possible for the real thing.

Its is enough, but Its possible some questions can give you a murmur And then ask you something like Iike risk factors or What to do. Or complications etc.
It behooves you to learn them for good now, but you won't fail for not knowing them.

 

[dragon529]

Anyone got a good source/link for learning the heart sounds??

 

[Phloston]

I had a tricky Marfan's syndrome heart sound question on my real deal.

IT REQUIRED MOVING THE STETHOSCOPE TO ANSWER IT CORRECTLY.

Be aware of what aortic regurg vs mitral valve prolapse sound like. HINT HINT

Done deal.

 

[Jonari]

Anyone got a good source/link for learning the heart sounds??

http://www.blaufuss.org/

 

[Jorje286]

I had a couple, and one I thought was a COMPLETE distraction. It was an endocarditis question asking about the organism after a specific procedure. You don't need to know the murmur to know which one. (unless of course I missed something).

 

[burningheat]

I had a tricky Marfan's syndrome heart sound question on my real deal.

IT REQUIRED MOVING THE STETHOSCOPE TO ANSWER IT CORRECTLY.

Be aware of what aortic regurg vs mitral valve prolapse sound like. HINT HINT

Done deal.

they didnt tell you when the sound occured?

 

[NickNaylor]

Algorithm for heart sounds:

1) Systolic or diastolic (or both)?
2) Constant (e.g., holosystolic or diastolic) or variable (e.g., crescendo-decrescendo)?
3) Location of murmur (usually given to you in the question stem)?

If you can figure out those things from a heart sound, you can answer 90% of these questions. My advice would be to use a site like Blaufuss with the nice little animations to try and really understand HOW the sounds are made. If you can understand that, then heart sound questions are extremely simple.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Algorithm for heart sounds:

1) Systolic or diastolic (or both)?
2) Constant (e.g., holosystolic or diastolic) or variable (e.g., crescendo-decrescendo)?
3) Location of murmur (usually given to you in the question stem)?

If you can figure out those things from a heart sound, you can answer 90% of these questions. My advice would be to use a site like Blaufuss with the nice little animations to try and really understand HOW the sounds are made. If you can understand that, then heart sound questions are extremely simple.

Definitely do this. Sometimes in UWorld they won't even give you the "classic" symptoms for whatever you're listening to so you have to base your answer just off of the sounds and location. I'd make sure to be able to ID the murmurs just from that info.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

I had a tricky Marfan's syndrome heart sound question on my real deal.

IT REQUIRED MOVING THE STETHOSCOPE TO ANSWER IT CORRECTLY.

Be aware of what aortic regurg vs mitral valve prolapse sound like. HINT HINT

Done deal.

Wait you can move the stethoscope on actual step 1 questions?

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

Also, if you're still having trouble understanding why heart sounds sound the way they do, check out the cardiac cycle chapter (ch. 2) in Lilly's -- it's excellent! It's a quick read and gives you a thorough understanding of murmurs and other heart sounds. That way, you don't have to memorize anything.

 

[projectlogic]

Also, if you're still having trouble understanding why heart sounds sound the way they do, check out the cardiac cycle chapter (ch. 2) in Lilly's -- it's excellent! It's a quick read and gives you a thorough understanding of murmurs and other heart sounds. That way, you don't have to memorize anything.

You can read it online, too:

http://books.google.com/books?id=bIF7PckmFMoC&pg

Missing a few pages from that chapter but looks like most of it is there.

 

[Phloston]

they didnt tell you when the sound occured?

No. You just had to listen.

Wait you can move the stethoscope on actual step 1 questions?

Yeah. There are four stethoscope locations. You click on the location and the stethoscope moves there. If I hadn't moved the stethoscope, I wouldn't have been able to get the question right.

 

[Jonari]

Definitely do this. Sometimes in UWorld they won't even give you the "classic" symptoms for whatever you're listening to so you have to base your answer just off of the sounds and location. I'd make sure to be able to ID the murmurs just from that info.

I agree, the UWorld murmur questions are really tough...