Neuro Exam 1 Flashcards
Psychiatric History Question
Do you have any concerns about your mental health such as excessive sadness, memory difficulties, difficulty sleeping, etc?
Neurologic History Question
Do you have problems with dizziness or headaches? Any problems with movement or abnormal sensations?
SNMFF
- Seizures
- Nutrition
- Medications
- Fever
- Focal
What is vertigo and where is the malfunction?
Feelings of movement; vestibular apparatus (ear or brainstem)
What is ataxia and where is the malfunction?
Feelings of imbalance; malfunction of cerebellum, eyes, ears, proprioreceptors
Insomnia vs. Hypersomnia
Trouble falling and staying asleep; sleeping too much or problems with staying awake
What level of function is a headache?
Lower level
7 things that could cause a headache
- Meningeal irritation (meningitis, hemorrhage)
- Elevated intraocular pressure (acute glaucoma)
- Abnormal sensory function (migraine)
- Sinus pressure (sinusitis)
- Elevated intracranial pressure (tumors, trauma)
- Somatization (depression)
- Scalp injury/inflammation (temporal arteritis)
5 components of the neuro exam
- Mental status (neuro 1)
- Cranial nerves
- Motor system
- Sensory system
- Reflexes
What are the 5 components to the Mental Status Examination?
- Appearance and behavior (what you see)
- Speech and language (what you hear)
- Mood (how they feel)
- Thoughts and perceptions (less concrete thinking)
- Cognitive function (more concrete thinking abilities)
What 6 things do we look for in Appearance and Behavior?
- Facial expression
- Relationship to people and things
- Affect and manner
- Grooming, dress, personal hygiene
- Posture and motor behavior
- Level of consciousness
What 4 things do we look for in Relationship to People and Things?
- Hallucinations (hearing or seeing things)
- Paranoia (anger or suspiciousness)
- Schizophrenia (flat affect and remoteness)
- Dementia
How is the apathy of dementia dulled?
Detachment and indifference
What do we look for in Manner and Affect?
Assess the patient’s affect (external expression of inner emotional state)
What 3 things do we look for in assessing the patient’s affect? (Manner and Affect)
- Variability
- Inappropriateness
- Mania
What 4 things do we look for in Dress, Grooming, and Personal Hygiene?
- Clean clothing
- Compared clothing to people of comparable age
- Compared grooming and hygiene to people of comparable age
What 3 things do we look for in Posture and Motor Behavior?
- Posture and patient’s ability to relax
- Prefer to lie in bed or to walk around?
- Pace, range, and character of movements
What 5 things do we look for in Level of Consciousness? What detail is associated with each?
- Stupor (applying painful stimulus)
- Coma (unarousable with eyes closed)
- Obtundation (shake the patient gently as if awakening)
- Alertness (normal)
- Lethargy (speaking to patient in loud voice)
What 3 things could a Coma be affecting?
- 2 brain hemispheres
- Brainstem
- Both
If a patient is in a coma, does the normal examination occur?
No
What scale can we use for patient’s in a coma?
Glasgow Coma Scale
What are the 3 parts to the Glasgow Coma Scale? What would a deceased patient score?
- Eye
- Motor response
- Verbal response
Score = 3
What are the 2 Cardinal DONT’s in a coma examination?
- Don’t dilate the pupils
2. Don’t flex the neck
What findings should we specifically look for in a coma exam?
Focal or asymmetric findings
What is a Focal Finding?
A certain part of the limb or body wasn’t working; i.e. 1 hand, or 1 foot, etc
What 2 classifications are there for causes of coma?
- Toxic-Metabolic
2. Structural
What is the pathophysiology of a Toxic-Metabolic cause of coma?
Arousal centers poisoned or critical substrates depleted
What is the pathophysiology of a structural cause of coma?
Lesion destroys or compresses brainstem arousal nerves, either directly or secondary to more distant expanding mass lesions
What 3 Clinical Features do we look for in a coma?
- Respiratory pattern
- Pupillary size and reaction
- Level of consciousness
What is the Toxic-Metabolic clinical finding for Pupillary Size and Reaction?
Equal, reactive to light. If pinpoint from opiates or cholinergics, you may need a magnifying glass to see the reaction