Are questions related to heart murmurs on the CCRN

Specialties MICU

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Just wondering if murmurs were a topic that showed up on the CCRN. I can't seem to master it. Does anyone have any useful tips or mnemonics to help learn murmurs?

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Yes, they are definitely on the exam. You won't have to listen to heart sounds...but a murmur can be listed as part of the clinical picture, or you could be given a scenario and asked what kind of murmur would be auscultated. For instance: new systolic murmur at the left sternal border, chest pain, and a drop in blood pressure in a patient who had a recent anterolateral MI. What do you suspect is happening?

I made a list:

AS: systolic

MS: diastolic

AR: diastolic

MR:systolic

(A= aortic, M= mitral, S=stenosis, R=regurg)

I memorized that list and wrote it on the scrap paper they give you for the exam. Diastolic murmurs are always pathological. For me, that was all I needed to help me for the exam.

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Yes, they are definitely on the exam. You won't have to listen to heart sounds...but a murmur can be listed as part of the clinical picture, or you could be given a scenario and asked what kind of murmur would be auscultated. For instance: new systolic murmur at the left sternal border, chest pain, and a drop in blood pressure in a patient who had a recent anterolateral MI. What do you suspect is happening?

I made a list:

AS: systolic

MS: diastolic

AR: diastolic

MR:systolic

(A= aortic, M= mitral, S=stenosis, R=regurg)

I memorized that list and wrote it on the scrap paper they give you for the exam. Diastolic murmurs are always pathological. For me, that was all I needed to help me for the exam.

Good list... I'd only refine your point to say that all murmurs are pathologic to one degree or another, but many are not symptomatic. Also, as if it needed to be said, teasing out which specific valve is involved without a thorough physical history and exam is pretty hard. Even then you need an echo for a real diagnosis. Finally, it isn't uncommon to have multiple valve pathology going on at once making coming to any meaningful conclusions just by listening very difficult.

More than the OP asked for, I know, but worth mentioning.

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Specializes in MICU - CCRN, IR, Vascular Surgery.

I had one question about murmurs, and they described it and the location, I had to name it.

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I just passed today. Exactly what the previous poster said I only got one question on murmurs. It asked me where it was located.

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