Mnemonics and Memory Aids

Nursing Students NCLEX Video

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The HYPERKALEMIA "Machine" - Causes of Increased Serum K+

 M  Medications - ACE inhibitors, NSAIDS

 A  Acidosis - Metabolic and respiratory

 C  Cellular destruction - Burns, traumatic injury

 H  Hypoaldosteronism, hemolysis

 I  Intake - Excessive

 N  Nephrons, renal failure

 E  Excretion - Impaired

mnemonic-hyperkalemia-machine.jpg.be4d606a782caa054ec73b2fd5a50bc4.jpg

Here's the easiest way to remember 5-lead ecg placement:

"Salt and pepper on a hamburger with lettuce and tomato"...

As you view the patient, starting from your left to right (the patients right shoulder), working from top to bottom: white, black, brown, green, red

Never again do you need to do the smoke over fire over blah blah blah...

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Specializes in Critical care.

After reading through this I am guessing my anatomy teach was kinda a pervert...I won't even post the things we learned about cranial nerves!

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amkrafka said:
After reading through this I am guessing my anatomy teach was kinda a pervert...I won't even post the things we learned about cranial nerves! 

Well can you email me what your prof shared with you? There are few people in my study group that would remember that WAY easier! (No Im not kidding) Thanks for your help! (And yes that is way funny!)

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Any Biochemistry suggestions? Organic Chem? .... Thanks for your help!

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Specializes in Dialysis, ICU and ER.

Here is a good one for EKG placement sites, You have the White -Green and Red- Black and Brown, A good way to remember their placement spots is White GOES ON right SIDE- SO THE WHITE snow falls on the GREEN grass. (WHITE OVER GREEN) AND the BLACK Smoke comes from the RED fire. (BLACK OVER RED) AND THE BROWN GOES IN THE MIDDLE.

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

Moderator's friendly reminder. Please do not post NASTY or VULGAR items here that violate the "family friendly" nature of our professional nursing community. All such posts will be removed. Thank you.

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Our Med-Surg instructor taught us that "DEAK is fat" lol to help us remember the fat soluble vitamins :)

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I can help you with some of them! Sodium - The price of table salt is approximately $1.35 and $1.45 (Na+ 135-145 normal range)

Magnesium - "M" is 1/2 way through the alphabet ... (M is 1.5-2.5 normal range)

Calcium - the weather in California is between 89 and 101 degrees (Ca+ 8.9-10.1 normal range)

Potassium - Kermit the frog is about 4 years old (K+ 3.5-5.5 normal range)

Red Blood cells - about "5", then multiply by 3 and you get about "15" for Hemoglobin, multiply by another 3 and you get about "45" for Hematocrit

Hope these help a little bit! :)

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sterile gloving is like taking your dog out for a walk. They pinch then you scoop. My instructor said this while practicing the skill. I giggle every time i put on sterile gloves now.

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Lab values (esp. electrolytes)

IMAGERY

I stuck with the "vacation" theme that I have seen in other mnemonics and made my vacation in California where they have ocean, surfers, surfboards, sea birds, pot and happy cows. I pictured really BIG pot plants that were so big that a ton of surfers could "enjoy" just half of a "plant" and that they could provide shade for happy cows frolicking on the beach (with the surfers). Then, I had to fly home. Airplanes always have magazines and I like food and science magazines so there was one of each. On the food magazine, I picture the protein patties each with double buns and on the food magazine and on the science magazine, there's a fossilized, pregnant dinosaur with three fossilized young (so 3.5 "babies" for this creature).

MNEMONIC

While on vacation in California, I met 140 salty surfers sharing 100 bleached boards and 4.5 pot plants (they smoked half of one) protected by 4 albatroses and sheltering 5 (happy) milk cows and a 2-headed radioactive cow (apparently they are VERY big pot plants if they are sheltering cows and just half of one can satisfy 140 surfers).

On the plane home, I saw 2 magazine covers –(cooking and science, of course!) One cover featuring 15 BUNS and 7 PROTEIN patties (I guess they’re making double-bunned burgers) and the other about dinosaurs with 1 (pregnant?) creature with 3.5 fossilized babies (3 born, 0.5 = pregnant??)

Keep in mind that each reference/lab lists slightly different ranges. These are from Prentice Hall Reviews & Rationales text on Fluids, Electrolytes and Acid-Base Balance. The greater than (>) sign is an arrow showing the thought process to get from the mnemonic term to the factor being tested/evaluated/reported.

140 (+/-5) salty surfers > salty > sodium: 135-145 mEq/L

100 (+/-5) bleached boards > bleach > Clorox bleach > chloride: 95-105 mEq/L

4.5 (weird) pot plants > pot... > potassium: 3.5-5.3 mEq/L

4 (weird) albatrosses > alb... > albumin: 3.5-5 g/dL

5 (+/-0.5) milk cows > milk > calcium (this it TOTAL calcium since the next one is ionized calcium): 4.5-5.5 mEq/L (also 9-11 mg/dL)

2 (weird)-headed cow > two heads due to ionizing radiation, cow is still milk > ionized calcium: 2.2-2.5 mEq/L (also 4.4-5 mg/dL)

2 (+/-0.5) magazines > mag... > magnesium: 1.5-2.5 mEq/L (also 1.8-3.0 mg/dL)

15 (+/-10) buns > BUN (blood urea nitrogen): 5-25 mg/dL

7 (+/-1) protein patties > Protein (total): 6-8 g/dL

1 (+/-0.5) creature > crea... > creatinine: 0.5-1.5 mg/dL

3.5 (+/-1) fossil(ized baby creatures) > foss... > phos... > phosphorus: 2.5-4.5 mg/dL

Obviously this is still missing some other things that can be measured, including ABG values and quite a few other relevant lab values.

Once I could remember the "middle values" I wanted to learn the ranges and the units. To help myself remember the units (not sure it truly matters), I associate mg/dL with magenta pink and I associate g/dL with green. So I tweaked the memory picture sot hat the protective albatrosses are now "Irish mom enforcers" (so they're green) and I made the cooking magazine the December issue with green pistachio-encrusted protein patties with red (pink) buns and then since I already had a potentially pregnant creature, I made her and all her offspring "pink" too. (Keep in mind that some of these can be measured in more than one kind of units. For example, calcium can be measured in mEq/L, mg/dL and mmol/L)

To help myself remember the ranges that aren't a perfect +/-0.5 or +/-1, I think that "pot makes you wacky/weird" and that albatrosses are a "weird" seabird for me to have put in my mnemonic (In a round of Family Feud, I'm sure that seagulls are number one :o) and of course, 2-head cows are weird. All the rest of the ranges are a nice +/- and it's just a matter of practice to learn which are 0.5, 1 or 5 for the plus/minus.

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I learned Never Let Monkeys Eat Bananas (as that's the order of most numerous to least numerous WBC type) but I always thought it was weird since monkeys are so closely associated with eating bananas. I like:

Never Let Monsters Eat Babies

Note: all of the granulocytes are "philled" with granules (and end in -phil)

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White on the right, snow over trees, smoke over fire and... chocolate is dear to my heart (middle)

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