Hey guys i took my CS a few months back and got my results last wednesday and i passed. I think the thing that helped me pass the most was using mnemonics, specially the blue sheet mnemonic i used form this site. The site also has awesome & easy mnemonics for pretty much each case that is on First Aid. Im not able to copy and paste them here because they are all in JPG format but you can visit the site yourself.
Hey just wanted to say thank you this is freaking great!!!
Thanks a lot for the help and congrats
Congratulation doc and thanks for sharing the page it is just great.
Please if you get a change answer my question, that might look weired tto ask but ....
In FA case # 22 page 280, Tremor.
How you have to support the 2 DD and 3 DD, 1 DD pt has Parkinson D , very clearly with resting tremor.
other tremors Essential , Physiologic and psychogenic they are posture Tremor ... how we can support the DD?... As well as Case # 44 .
As I saw in the samle case note one supporting point is not enough for DD.... in some cases it is really hard to support DD...please advise, appreciated
@786sh Thank you and no problem i hope it helps.
As far as your question goes, sometimes the diagnosis is very clear like you mentioned in the Tremor case, but the point they are trying to make with this test is that you need to also think about other causes as well even if the typical presentation is given (Resting Tremor). Now we both know Resting tremor is a classic presentation for Parkinson's but what if he doesnt really have parkinsons and something else is contributing to his symptoms. So this is why you have to have other differentials and Order some test to narrow it down to Parkinsons.
For your Physical Finding you can put "RESTING" Tremor to support parkinsons. and for your other differentials such as Essential tremor you can just type "TREMOR".
I hope it makes sense
THANKS DOC FOR YOUR HEALP,
I WAS CONCERNED BECAUSE I COULDN'T FIND OTEHR HX FINIDING FOR ESSENTIAL OR... OTHER THAN A TEREMOR IN HPI ...SO AS YOU SAYING IT IS OKAY IF WE DONT HAVE 2 SUPPORTING HX FOR 2 DD OR 3 DD. RIGHT?
I never said it was ok! You always need to Support your Actual Diagnosis as well as your Differential Diagnosis. And the best way to support your Diagnosis and your Differentials is from the HISTORY FINDINGS.
HISTORY FINDINGS is critical to pass CS because it shows that you are gathering the right and useful information from your patient.
For example in Essential Tremor you can ask your patient questions about, Caffeine intake, Alcohol use & Association with Emotional stress… and this is how you would Support your diagnosis for Essential Tremor:
Diagnosis: Essential Tremor.
History Findings:
- Tremor (Notice how I only wrote tremor & I didn’t specify if it was resting or essential)
- Drinks 2 glasses of wine a night
- Drinks 3 cups of coffee a day
- Tremor associated with feeling tired & anxious
PHYSICAL FINDINGS is a different story because "almost" all of these patients aren't actually sick so you're not gonna really find a lot of stuff in your Physical examinations. However if your case is related to pain then they have no problem Faking their pain so you need to put that in your “Physical findings” to support your diagnosis. For example if you think your patient has Pyelonephritis and on physical exam you find that she or he has CVA tenderness you want to list that. Other things you can add to your Physical findings are the VITALS for example Blood Pressure and Temperature... So for example if you think patient has UTI and on the door information they have put Temp 101F you definitely want to list that as well. Don’t stress too much about Physical Finds! If you find 1 or 2 things then that’s great! If you don’t find anything then that’s ok too. Physical findings is not as important as History findings.
I hope this helped. Good luck
Great mnemonics thank you so much for posting them!!
thank you for ur sharing
I hope to be one who share info like u in the near future !!!!
Thank you @markramz & @usus12 & dont worry the exam is very straight forward just practice a lot with these mnemonics and you're ready to go
