WCSU - Nurse’s Little Book of Memory Joggers

Nursing Department

Nurse's Little Book of Memory Joggers

21 quick, easy ways to remember important clinical facts

From: Nursing Made Incredibly Easy!

To remember the difference between transudate and exudates, focus on the prefixes…
- Trans- means “across” as in the transcontinental railroad
- Ex- means “out of” as in exhale
To remember the difference between aerobic and anaerobic, think of jogging…
- When you jog an aerobic activity, your body needs oxygen or air- aerobic means oxygen is required.
- Anaerobic means without oxygen.
To remember what allergies to ask your patient about before a CT scan that required contrast medium, think SIC…
Shellfish
Iodine
Contrast media (prior sensitive reaction)
To remember the sign and symptoms of hypersensitivity reaction to contrast media, think PURR…
Pruritus (itching)
Urticaria (hives)
Rash
Respiratory distress
To remember what to assess when evaluating a skin lesion, think of A, B, C, D…
A for asymmetry
B for border
C for color and configuration
D for diameter and drainage
To remember that cones are cells in the eyes that respond to color, think of brightly colored ice cream cones.
To remember which direction to move the syringe when you want to slow down the flow through the tube, think of
- lower is slower, or…
- Slow DOWN
To remember the progression of ARDS, think of
Assault to the pulmonary system
Respiratory distress
Decreased lung compliance
Severe respiratory failure
To remember the meaning of myasthenia gravis...
Think of grave muscle weakness.
To remember the progression of signs and symptoms of Lyme disease LIME…
Lesion, lymph node swelling, like the flu (stage 1)
Innervations problems, such as meningitis and peripheral neuropathy (stage 2)
Movement problems, such as arthritis (stage 3)
Everything else, such as myocarditis and arrhythmias (stage 4)
To remember the difference between depolarization and repolarization, think of…
the R in repolarization as standing for Rest. Repolarization is the resting phase of the cardiac cycle.
When performing an assessment, remember this CAUTION from the American Cancer Society…
Change in bowel or bladder habits
A sore that doesn’t heal
Unusual bleeding or discharge
Thickening or lump
Indigestion or difficulty swallowing
Obvious changes in a wart or mole
Nagging cough or hoarseness
To remember the four causes of cell injury, think of how the injury tipped (or TIPD) the scale of homeostasis…
Toxin or other lethal (cytotoxic) substance
Infection
Physical insult or injury
Deficit or lack of water, oxygen, or nutrients
When combining insulins, to remember which to draw first think of “clear before cloudy.”
Who doesn’t prefer a clear day to a cloudy one?
Remember this jingle when converting inches to centimeters…
“2.53, that’s 1 inch and no more.”
Remember that X factor is often used to describe a person or event that could cause unexpected, or unknown, outcomes.
Keep in mind when performing dosage calculation and you’ll remember that X represents the unknown part of a ratio or fraction.
To remember the condition that affect the length of patient stay, think of FOCUS…
Functional skill (and disabilities)
Other diseases
Chronicity
Urgency of needs
Support of systems
To remember yourself of the need to check and adjust flow rates, remember the following tongue twister…
Fight fickle flow with frequent follow-up.
To remember which drugs can be given safely through a nasogastric tube, think of ALE…
Atropine
Lidocaine
Epinephrine
To remember which drug should be inhaled first think about your ABCs…
A Bronchodilator comes before a Corticosteroid.
When using IN-LINE nebulizer, remember to…
connect it to the IN-spiratory side of the ventilatory circuit.