Head and Neck Advice

[psipsina]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey, shoutout to the second years and beyond. Do y'all have any advice on things that worked for you during the head and neck block of gross. I'm trying to formulate an approach to this bi8tch and any input would be greatly appreciated . My school doesn't seem like its going to lecture on most of it so this will be mostly self taught. I use Moore and BRS as my main texts and have netters, rohens and use the acelands videos online. My school also gave us a skull to take home. Any other great study tools or websites or strategy advice? Thanks!

 

[IBleedGreen]

Hello to my fellow New Orleanian! I'm actually post-2nd year now, but I recall the cranial nerves being the biggest deal for head and neck. I liked the Moore and Dalley textbook because it had an entire chapter dedicated to them. Not sure how different schools emphasize details though?

 

[mendel121]

I did it in two ways -

1. the most success that I had was to make the paths of vessels and nerves into stories - make them as elaborate and creative as you want - it serves two purposes - 1. formulating the story makes you really actively think about the paths, what they are doing and where they are going 2. re-reading them is more interesting then plain text so will help you to more actively read

2. as you are reading whatever, write quiz type questions in the margin - which forces you to actively read to makeup the questions, but also gives you a way to review the text over and over without reading every word.

These are things that worked for me, try them if you like, I don't pretend to be an expert, it just worked for me. Good luck.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

I did it in two ways -

1. the most success that I had was to make the paths of vessels and nerves into stories - make them as elaborate and creative as you want - it serves two purposes - 1. formulating the story makes you really actively think about the paths, what they are doing and where they are going 2. re-reading them is more interesting then plain text so will help you to more actively read

2. as you are reading whatever, write quiz type questions in the margin - which forces you to actively read to makeup the questions, but also gives you a way to review the text over and over without reading every word.

These are things that worked for me, try them if you like, I don't pretend to be an expert, it just worked for me. Good luck.

That's some pretty good advice. H/N is brutal, the only thing I thought was worse was the pelvis. Unfortunately like most things in med school there is no substitute here for lots of time.

Side note: I am not in favor of the anatomy wisdom that says "look at as many bodies as possible." You know your own cadaver so use it to learn relationships. If you are going to say "this is the facial artery" then ask yourself "and how do I know that? what are my landmarks etc." Then on the exam when you have to look at someone else's hacked and dried-out cadaver you can say "ok, relax, what do I see..."

 

[kenmc3]

Drawing pictures seemed to help me with anatomy and I am not a great artist.

I purchased rohens for head and neck and found it to be more helpful than netters (which I used for the rest of the body).

As with any anatomy course, repetition is key. See if you can get together with a TA or someone in your class who knows everything and have them quiz you.

 

[Pembleton]

Compartmentalizing helped me. I tried to figure out what was in the Nasopharynx, Oropharynx, etc. I kept a mental picture of the nerves and vessels and where they extended to. I drew the vessels/nerves out too. IMO, since these are smaller parts they are harder to visualize on the cadaver and thus it's important to know the way they look in the ideal cadaver. Then when you go to your cadaver or another's cadaver, you'll be able to recognize them by how close they come to the ideal picture.

 

[ddmo]

H/N is all about the cranial nerves, arteries, and holes. Learn the cranial nerves early so that you can focus on relationships of other structures to them, rather than trying to remember what they are. Knowing what artery, nerve, or vein goes through what hole is also high yield for the written exam. For the practical remember relationships and landmarks. The stuff is so small, that they will usually tag something so that you can look at the stuff around it to help decipher what it is.

 

[med_heidelberg]

I thought head and neck was the worst part of anatomy. It killed me! All the advice I can give you is, don't fall behind during this part of the course. Learn the Foramina directly on the skull, asap. Take 1 or 2 cranial nerves a day and learn everything about it, that way you aren't stuck trying to learn everything about all 12 in one sitting, which really sucks. I'm speaking from personal experience here. I think it's also better to learn the structures on a model before going to the cadaver, if you can. That makes things easier to recognize.

 

[psipsina]

Thank y'all for the advice. I spent the weekend learning the skull inside and out and the facial nerve and the trigeminal nerve. I feel like I got a pretty good start on this, now just to keep up . . . and stay sane. Ahhhh medschool . . .

 

[indo]

facial and trigeminal innervation is 80 % of head innervation. Now check out the hypoglossal and the vagus/ vagal branches to the laryngeal area and you'll be kickin' ass. Muscles take care of themselves mostly. Vascular structures are pretty obvious after you learn that Some Angry Lady Figured Out PMS. (branches off of external carotid, internal has no branches)

 

[registered user]

http://www.med.yale.edu/caim/cnerves/

http://medlib.med.utah.edu/neurologicexam/html/cranialnerve_anatomy.html#02