Favorite EM Mnemonic

[corpsmanUP]

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In all seriousness, what is your favorite and most useful EM mnemonic? What is your favortie mnemonic link? I am finding them to be more useful than I ever imagined.

I'll start

Carpal Bones

Sally Lowered Tommy's Pants, He C*me Three Times

 

[Tiger26]

In all seriousness, what is your favorite and most useful EM mnemonic? What is your favortie mnemonic link? I am finding them to be more useful than I ever imagined.

I'll start

Carpal Bones

Sally Lowered Tommy's Pants, He C*me Three Times

Slightly different order, but: "Some Lovers Try Positions That They Can't Handle"

Pretty funny when the 4th year anatomy elective students were helping us out in lab and none of them could remember the bones themselves, but all knew the mnemonic.

 

[deleted87716]

Sally Lowered Tommy's Pants, He C*me Three Times

Premature ejaculation? Sounds Like Tommy Could Try Titrating His Paxil. 😉

 

[USAF MD '05]

1.SPAK- status post ass-kicking

2.PPP- piss-poor protoplasm

Steve

 

[DropkickMurphy]

ADASTW- Arrived dead and stayed that way

 

[deleted109597]

DFO



Done Fell Out.

 

[EM2BE]

SOB...well now phased out of the hospital back home. Pt or pt's family heard the abbreviation when the paramedics were reporting in and thought they were calling them sons of...well you know. Now the paramedics are supposed to use SOA (short of air) so that they don't offend the pts that know the truth.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

SOB...well now phased out of the hospital back home. Pt or pt's family heard the abbreviation when the paramedics were reporting in and thought they were calling them sons of...well you know. Now the paramedics are supposed to use SOA (short of air) so that they don't offend the pts that know the truth.

That's sort of like using "black" in field triage. A fireman told me a story one time about ariving at a multiple-victim scene that happened to involve African-Americans. Apparently, finding an obviously dead AA man and skipping over him while saying "this one is black" is not a good way to please a crowd.

 

[canjosh]

DFO



Done Fell Out.

DFOA=Done Fell Out AGAIN

DRT/ART=Dead Right There/Approaching Room Temperature

AFWAP=Another Female With Abdominal Pain

VAD=Vitamin A(ativan) Deficiency

 

[deleted87716]

SOB...well now phased out of the hospital back home. Pt or pt's family heard the abbreviation when the paramedics were reporting in and thought they were calling them sons of...well you know. Now the paramedics are supposed to use SOA (short of air) so that they don't offend the pts that know the truth.

Why bother changing the acronym? "Dyspneic" has the same number of syllables as either, and is a lot easier to use conversationally.

 

[Dr.Evil1]

I asked for mnemotics on sedation a while back and got some of my personal favorites:

Obvious: B-52 or 5 and 2 = 5mg of haldol and 2mg of ativan

Not so obvious: HAM sandwich = haldol, ativan and morphine

 

[GeneralVeers]

I asked for mnemotics on sedation a while back and got some of my personal favorites:

Obvious: B-52 or 5 and 2 = 5mg of haldol and 2mg of ativan

Not so obvious: HAM sandwich = haldol, ativan and morphine

TMD - Total Me Duele

OTD - Out The Door (my favourite)

 

[po' boy]

HONDA - Hispanic Obese Non-insulin dependent Diabetic with Asthma

not one I use but which i have heard and thought was interesting. call it a Don Imus-ism.

 

[Jeff698]

DRT/ART=Dead Right There/Approaching Room Temperature

Or the Texas version: Dead Raght Thar.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[southerndoc]

GOMER - Get Outta My ER
STD - Spinning the Drain (also CTD, Circling the Drain)
GYD - Grave Yard Dead

 

[spyderdoc]

How about "Triple I" chest pain. (Aiiii Aiiii Aiiii). Typically an early 20's-30's Hispanic female....

 

[GeneralVeers]

How about "Triple I" chest pain. (Aiiii Aiiii Aiiii). Typically an early 20's-30's Hispanic female....

We refer to that as "Aye Tach" or AT. In many cases it's terminal.

 

[stoic]

this one isn't EM specific, but I'm studying and just ran across it in first aid:

Drugs causing gynecomastia: Spironoloctone, Digitalis, Cimetidine, Alcohol use, Ketoconazole

-Some Drugs Create Awesome Knockers

 

[DrQuinn]

Got this one from Ken Butler at Univ of MD (regional airway expert):

before intubating, try to SOAP ME:

Suction
Oxygen
Airway Equipment
Pharmaceuticals

Monitoring/Equipment

Q

 

[igcgnerd]

fff: fat, fertile, and forty

 

[Jeff698]

We refer to that as "Aye Tach" or AT. In many cases it's terminal.

Similar to the dreaded tachylodya with an occasional ohhepmejesus.

oh lordy oh lordy oh lordy oh hep me jesus oh lordy oh lordy oh lordy

Take care,
Jeff

 

[dr7123sa]

Mentally rearded cerebral palsy 🙂

 

[NKMU]

DFOIC- major subtype of DFO


Done fell out in church.

Ex: 83yo LOL DFOIC.

 

[corpsmanUP]

Well I suppose I should have clarified that the mnemonics be useful for everyday ED life. But I did enjoy reading these!

 

[SoCuteMD]

fff: fat, fertile, and forty

There are actually 4 f's - fat female fertile and forty

 

[dchristismi]

A path professor of mine would actually make it the 7 f's - adding "flatulant floating feces" to the 4 f's already mentioned.

 

[Homunculus]

How about "Triple I" chest pain. (Aiiii Aiiii Aiiii). Typically an early 20's-30's Hispanic female....

i read somewhere on this board before about "status hispanicus". i thought it was pretty funny.

--your friendly neighborhood ED consulting caveman

 

[GeneralVeers]

i read somewhere on this board before about "status hispanicus". i thought it was pretty funny.

--your friendly neighborhood ED consulting caveman

Also known as "Hispanic Panic" by a former Cuban resident I worked with.

 

[Nuke Rx]

Somewhat OT, but...the essential amino acids (ones our body can't synthesize)

Very Lazy Is The Man Leaving Pecker Tracks!

Valine
Leucine
Isoleucine
Threonine
Methionine
Lysine
Phenylalanine
Tyrosine

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Also known as "Hispanic Panic" by a former Cuban resident I worked with.

Or "Cuban conniptions" to quote a Cuban pulmonologist I used to work with.....

 

[DropkickMurphy]

There are actually 4 f's - fat female fertile and forty

I've also alternatively heard a fifth "f"- fried, in reference to the fact that in some patients greasy foods trigger gallbladder attacks.

I was also taught six "f's" that can cause distention of the abdomen: fluid, flatulence, fat, feces, fibroid (tumor), fetus

 

[VeerTheTIGuy]

http://medicalmnemonics.com/

 

[sleepymed]

I know the five Fs of gall bladder disease, just one addition:

Female, fat, fertile, forty, fair

 

[Hawkeye Kid]

a couple for sycope...

CHESS from the san fran rules for risk stratifying/admitting sycope pts
CHF
Hb < 30
EKG abn
SBP < 90
SOB

also, CRAPS for "bad" causes of syncope

Cardiac structural defects (AS, HOCM)
Rupture (aorta, viscus, ectopic)
Arrythmia
PE
SAH

 

[MS05']

DTPL - Discharge To Parking Lot

Offservice with the trauma team:
OTFL - Off The F'n List
LOFD - Looks Okay From Door

 

[anonymousEM]

How about the 6T risk factors for snakebites...

Toothless, Testosterone, Tank Top, pickup Truck, Tatooed, inToxicated

if you can't remember all of that, a low tooth to tatoo ratio is a pretty good predictor too....

 

[El Cheba]

BARF-Brainless Application of Radiological Finding

VOMIT-Victim Of Medical Imaging Technology

 

[GeneralVeers]

BARF-Brainless Application of Radiological Finding

VOMIT-Victim Of Medical Imaging Technology

I like that BARF one. I've had so many paranoid attendings freak out when a radiologist reads a scan as normal but adds: "Cannot rule out xxx life-threatening condition xxx, clinical correlation is recommended".

 

[deleted109597]

I like that BARF one. I've had so many paranoid attendings freak out when a radiologist reads a scan as normal but adds: "Cannot rule out xxx life-threatening condition xxx, clinical correlation is recommended".

I really wish I could dictate in my report "patient has _______ physical finding, cannot rule out _______, radiological correlation is recommended."

 

[Chronic Student]

I read through the thread twice and I can't see where anyone has mentioned:

SOCMMOB

As in, I was "Standing On the Corner Minding My Own Business" when these two dudes jumped me and put a lone star beer bottle up my rear end.

-Mike

 

[leviathan]

How about "Triple I" chest pain. (Aiiii Aiiii Aiiii). Typically an early 20's-30's Hispanic female....

I wonder what the sensitivity this has for myocardial ischemia. I smell a study! (OK, not really.)

 

[Orthonut]

Similar to the dreaded tachylodya with an occasional ohhepmejesus.

oh lordy oh lordy oh lordy oh hep me jesus oh lordy oh lordy oh lordy

Do you TTJ these patients? (Transfer To Jesus)

Very Lazy Is The Man Leaving Pecker Tracks!

Valine
Leucine
Isoleucine
Threonine
Methionine
Lysine
Phenylalanine
Tyrosine

See, why couldn't we have had this one? That would have made things a lot simpler, but OH NO, we had to be politically correct and use "VAL PLIT HIM" (what the heck does THAT stand for? nothing, I'll tell you, NOTHING)

 

[stoic]

How about "Triple I" chest pain. (Aiiii Aiiii Aiiii). Typically an early 20's-30's Hispanic female....

!. I had my first "triple i/ hispanic panic" pt not but a couple weeks ago. screaming because of "chest pain," but couldn't find anything wrong. it sticks out 'cause the ED was pretty quiet and this pt showed up and screamed for 20 minutes or so.


anyway, this one's not a pneumonic. it's more of a poem. but it's on my test in a couple hours, so here it is.

Signs/Sx of Anti-Ach Toxicity:

dry as a bone,
red as a beet,
blind as a bat,
hot as a hare,
mad as a hatter,
bowel and bladder lose their tone,
and the heart goes on alone.

 

[Perrin]

Point and shoot.

Point - parasympathetic = erection
Shoot - sympathetic = ejaculation

Not very knowledge heavy, but funny how it worked out that way. 😀

 

[deleted77919]

Point and shoot.

Point - parasympathetic = erection
Shoot - sympathetic = ejaculation

Not very knowledge heavy, but funny how it worked out that way. 😀

Does this really come up in the emergency setting very often? Ok, I concede there are those "I ate 18 viagra and have had an erection lasting 12 hours" patients.

 

[disheveled_dave]

FOS - "Full of ****"

This one gets used a lot, especially with the malingerers in the psych unit 🙄

 

[Jeff698]

FOS - "Full of ****"

This one gets used a lot, especially with the malingerers in the psych unit 🙄

Not to mention all the elderly patients for whom this is a real complaint.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[NinerNiner999]

Venous Penis (good way to remember where the femoral vein is next to the artery)

SITA (Shot in the ass)
PITA (pain in the ass)

(SITA=PITA)

 

[tkim]

Venous Penis (good way to remember where the femoral vein is next to the artery)

I use "Dick VAN" (****) - for those who know who he is.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

this one isn't EM specific, but I'm studying and just ran across it in first aid:

Drugs causing gynecomastia: Spironoloctone, Digitalis, Cimetidine, Risperdal, Alcohol use, Ketoconazole

-Some Drugs Create Really Awesome Knockers

I came across this thread in a random google search, and I felt like it deserved a bump....though I could have used this post above earlier! Btw....I added Risperdal.

-t