Awesome.

Each of you [visitors] will be getting a different "fact" about me...feel free to refresh to get another one lol

Last Friday and Saturday were two of the best days of medical school I have had so far. Friday was the first Cycle of MD4003 - Applied Medical Sciences. Besides our dissertation, it is the only class we have, taking up an entire Friday (9-4) once every fortnight. Hopefully I will find time to elaborate later (although I seem to find plenty of time to find meme's online...hmm). Friday I and 29 of my colleagues became ILS (Immediate Life Support) certified by the Resuscitation Council of the UK. It was basically a refresher of what I did back in the summer when I became an ACLS Provider back home in the states. It was still great fun, and luckily no one killed anyone with the defibs (they were live). The instructors were pretty laid back and funny, too, which always helps. Although after one of them gave the lecture on the ALS Algorith, I went up and asked him about a couple discrepancies between the UK algorith and the USA/AHA algorithm. He sort of laughed when I said I was American (I get that a lot), and then seemed to pick on me a bit for the rest of the day. Or maybe I was imagining it. At one point though when we were practicing, a put my stethoscope around my neck (y'know, because its the simplest place to put it), but then he came up to me and asked if I was a doctor and if not then why my scope was around my neck. I guess in Tayside they don't allow anyone but Consultants to wear them. Weirdos.

-AMiB

AMiB, ACLS Provider.

Whoo! I am now officially (for the next two years) licensed by the American Heart Association as an Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Provider.



The class size was really small, so we got out pretty early each day. Was a lot of fun, because it was taught by a firefighter (young guy, been a fire medic for 8yrs), and he was pretty lax about it and made sure we did well and passed.



All in all, was definitely worth it - and now when it comes time to start residency or if I transfer or whatever and need an ACLS cert, all I have to do is the recert class.



-AMiB

Secondary Causes of Hypertension....GO!

24 year old Japanese male, admitted for HTN. In a guy his age, has to be a secondary cause.

DDx was as follows:

• Renal Artery Stenosis - ruled out: BUN & Creatinine were wnl
• Hyperaldosteronism
• Phaeochromocytoma - abdominal CT orderdered, as well a 24hr urine for VMA
• Coarctation of the aorta - ruled out w/ CXR
• a couple others that I can't remember

Patient also had raised ICP (papilloedema), secondary to a Colloid cyst; Dr. M was thining possible Benign intracranial hypertension (formerly known as Pseudotumor cerebri.)

So, as it turns out, the guy is just from Guam, where everyone seems to have high blood pressure. Pt's father died @ 40yrs from MI, all siblings also have HTN. So it was a simple familial/environmental thing, but as Dr. M put it, this is "real internal medicine; none of that 'when can we send them back to the nursing home?' stuff". I found it quite the interesting case. Didn't enjoy being pimped on the causes though (was one of our SAQs back in first sememster when we did CVS - didn't do so well then either lol).

Today's pimp question from Dr. A: Name the 6 classes/types of Cardio-protective drugs/agents:

1. ACE-I/ARBs
2. Beta-blockers
3. Statins
4. Heparin/Lovenox (LMWH)
5. TPA/Thrombolytics
6. ASA/Aspirin

(I was going to put links to all of them...then realized that I use wikipedia for everything, so you can look them up yourselves, if interested :-D)

In other news, ACLS class is tomorrow and Saturday. I should go prepare for that...O:-)

-AMiB

ACLS

So I just got my American Heart Association ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) Provider course materials in the mail.

"Through the ACLS course, providers will enhance their skills in the treatment of the adult victim of a cardiac arrest or other cardiopulmonary emergencies. ACLS emphasizes the importance of basic life support CPR to patient survival; the integration of effective basic life support with advanced cardiovascular life support interventions; and the importance of effective team interaction and communication during resuscitation. "

More info here: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3011972

Looks like there's a lot of work involved before the class actually begins. Better get to it...

Will keep you updated once the course starts (June 29th/30th) :-)

-AMiB