Common things are common

Cranquis: Are you still taking the Plavix? (anti-clot-forming med often given to people who have had a stent placed in a heart coronary artery, in order to keep the stent from getting blocked and causing another heart attack)

Patient with a coronary stent and now having chest pain: NO I AM NOT, I GOT PISSED OFF AT THE CARDIOLOGIST SO I STOPPED TAKING ANYTHING HE PRESCRIBED TO ME.

Sorry about the lack of posts, I've been useless lately. So I've finished my orthopaedic rotation now -- it was good fun being in surgery but I'm just not sure it's for me -- once I'd seen a couple of knee and hip replacements they just weren't exciting any more. It all feels a bit too much like carpentry at times -- put this jig here, drill here, saw here, not that it's actually that simple but the real bread-and-butter of orthopaedic surgery (joint replacement, especially hips & knees) just lost its magic fairly quickly.

So now I'm on my Cardiorespiratory placement. I spent the first week in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU). I saw a lot in that first week, and it's gonna go in some separate posts when I have the time and inclination. There may be a fairly big one on my first cardiac arrest call and a fairly science-y one on Adenosine Challenge and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

There is nothing but chemistry here.

Chemistry -- Tall Ships

Mangled Extremity Severity Score.

Gustillo-Anderson Classification of Open Fractures: I -- Wound <1cm. Low energy injury. II -- Wound >1cm. Moderate soft tissue damage. III -- High energy wound >1cm. Extensive soft tissue damage. -- IIIa -- Adequate soft tissue cover. -- IIIb -- Inadequate soft tissue cover. -- IIIc -- Associated with vascular injury.

Thank you, oh mnemonic fairy.