CLINICAL NEUROANATOMY....MADE RIDICULOUSLY SIMPLE?

"You have two hours to come up with a complete exam that would cover everything in the first four chapters of this book. In a couple of weeks, you will have to perform this exam on a group member. You will have ten minutes to do the complete exam (over the first four chapters of the book and the rest of the book) and then you will have to work out a diagnosis." This is how we were greeted in lab on Thursday. The task was not undaunting, considering that we had to cover basic blood circulation (mostly the Circle of Willis, or the hairy spider that lives in our brain), the twelve cranial nerves, and five major sensory and motor pathways, with more to come next week.

Actually, it was pretty fun. This is the section I have been waiting for--clinical neurology. And this was a really good exercise, coming up with the diagnostic tests ourselves, because you really have to think about function and how functions of different things are related. But still, a complete neurology exam takes far more than ten minutes, and to ask us to assess a "patient" in a mere ten minutes seems like a lot to ask. But oh well, it should be a lot of fun when we get to play doctor.

For this section we are using the book Clinical Neuroanatomy Made Ridiculously Simple. It is an absolutely fabulous book, although it does border on the cheesy side. It has all of these really corny mneumonics (so maybe I can't spell), but they really help you remember things. My two lab partners in Neuroanatomy had already taken this course, and they had the book. I'll never forget things like "CN III is a pillar, it opens the eye", "CN 7 is a hook, it closes the eye", "CN VII spits, CN VII cries", and "CN VII is the naughty nerve". Text books are great, but this book is even better. Plus it was only about $15. What more can you ask for in a book?

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