random clinical Flashcards
What are the thing you look for/think about in a palliative care setting?
- resus plan (?continue IVF, NG feeds, IDC)
- palliative meds (GEM: glycopyrrolate, endone, midazolam)
- PRN meds (crisis)
- oral care, pressure sore care
- urinary retention, constipation
- high RR (respiratory/metabolic: acidosis)
- GP informed for pt dying at home to arrange death cert
What are the 3 palliative meds and their function?
GEM:
- glycopyrrolate /hyoscine (muscarinic anticholinergic, reduce resp secretions (salivary), -> reduce rattly breathing)
- endones / morphine (dyspnoea)
- midazolam (sedatives, benzodiazepines)
What are the features of CCF on CXR?
ABCDE:
- alveolar edema (bat-wing)
- (kerley) B lines (1-2mm lines in the peripheral lungs)
- cardiomegaly (cardiothoracic ratio > 0.5)
- dilated pulmonary veins
- (pleural) effusion
What are the scoring criteria for GCS?
Max score: 15, E4V5M6 Eye response (E) 1: Closed 2. Opens in response to pain 3. Opens to speech. 4. Eyes opening spontaneously
Verbal response (V)
- No verbal response
- Incomprehensible sounds.
- Inappropriate words.
- Confused. (some disorientation and confusion.)
- Oriented.
Motor response (M) (sternal rub + supraorbital pressure)
- No motor response
- extensor response (decerebrate posture)
- flexor response (decorticate posture)
- Withdrawal from pain (pull away when nail bed is pinched)
- Localizes to pain (brings hand up beyond chin when supraorbital pressure applied)
- Obeys commands
<=8: severe
9-12: modertate
>12: mild
E not assessable (+1) V intubated (+1)
What are the differences between aphasia, dysphasia, dysarthia?
Aphasia and dysphasia:
- interchangeably used
- receptive or expressive (unable to understand or express)
- often overlap
- lesion of the dominant hemisphere (usually left)
- Cause: CVAs, space-occupying lesions, TBI, dementia
- receptive: fluent with a normal rhythm and articulation but it is meaningless as they fail to comprehend what they are saying (Wernicke’s area, parietaltemporal lesion), Patients lack awareness of their speech difficulties
- expressive: not fluent and have difficulty forming words and sentences (Broca’s lesion, anterior lesion)
- many other specific different types with corresponding brain areas
Dysarthia
- dysfunction of the muscular control
- unable to form words
- often co-exist with dysphasia
- Slurred and weak articulation with a weak voice
- Cause: strokes, MS, motor neurone disease
How common are inguinal hernias in female?
- Male: female = 6:1
- indirect hernias are most common, due to non-closure of processus vaginalis
- can happen as sliding hernia (with ovaries, tubes)
- direct IH is rare in women because the broad ligament of uterus supports the inguinal canal
What do you see in LP CSF analysis in bacterial vs viral meningitis?
Bacterial:
Glucose: low
Protein: very high
WCC: Very high (PMNs)
Viral:
Glucose: normal
Protein: normal/high
WCC: high (lymphocytes, may have PMNs early)
What are the symptoms of benzodiazepine (eg valium) withdrawal?
- headaches
- anxiety/depressed mood
- muscle pain
- tremors/shakiness
Mechanism, uses and S/E of macrolides?
- binds to 50S subunit of ribosome, inhibit protein synthesis. Bacteriostatic
- cover everything penicillin does + atypicals in pneumonia: mycoplasma, chlamydia, legionella, mycobacterium avium-complex (MAC) (in AIDS)
- chlamydia/gonorrhoea infection, give both azithro (vs chlam) and ceftriaxone (vs gonorrh) because of common co-infection
- used when allergic for penicillin
Eg:
- erythromycin
- azithromycin
- clarithromycin
S/E:
- well tolerated
- inhibitors of P450
- QT prolongation
Mechanism and coverage of cabapenem?
Carbapenems (++—):
- inhibits cell wall synthesis
- extremely wide range (+, -)
- covers anaerobes
- not effective against atypicals
Reference:
- meropenem
- imipenem + cilistatin (b-lactamase inhibitor)
(both effective vs pseudomonas)
- ertapenem (highly effective vs anaerobes, not vs pseudomonas)
S/E:
- diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting
Mechanism, coverage and SE of aminoglycosides?
Aminoglycosides (+—-):
- binds to 30S subunit in ribosomes, inhibit protein synthesis
- wide range,
- used against gram negatives and pseudomonas
- used for listeria
Eg:
- gentamicin
- tobramycin
- amikacin
S/E:
- ototoxicity
- nephrotoxicity
- AVOID IN PREGNANCY
Reference:
- Listeria (gram +) (sepsis, meningitis, encephalitis in newborn, elderly and immunocompromised)
Describe the quinolones.
Quinolones (+++—):
- inhibit DNA gyrase -> DNA replication
- effective against wide range: gram negatives, staph, strept
- common empirical tx
- good empirical for pneumonia (strept, aspiration, atypicals…)
- UTIs and prostatitis
- intractable infectious diarrhoea
Eg:
- levofloxacin
- ciprofloxacin
- gatiflocaxin
- moxifloxacin
S/E:
- well tolerated
- low risk of tendon rupture
- C diff diarrhoea
- AVOID IN PREGNANCY
Mechanism, Uses and SE of vancomycin?
Vancomycin (++++):
- inhibits cell wall synthesis
Use:
- wide range of efficacy (gram +, anaerobics)
- against MRSA, C diff
- good choice for empirical (along with sth for gram -, atypicals, eg doxycyclines)
S/E:
- red man syndrome (infusion related reaction)
- diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting
Where do u find anaerobes? Name 2 antianaerobes and their uses.
- anerobes are present in intra-abdominal infections
Eg:
Metronidazole, clindamycin
Uses:
- metronidazole (below diaphragm, eg C diff), nucleic acid synthesis
- clindamycin (above diaphragm), 50S
When do you use trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX)?
- UTI for those non allergic, otherwise: - nitrofurantoin)
- pneumocystis jirovecii
What Abx for pseudomonas?
- piperacillin/tazobactam (tazocin) (first line)
- ceftazidime, cefipime (if allergic)
- gentamicin, amikacin, tobramycin (used for systemic instability)
- meropenem, imipenem
What Abx for MRSA?
MRSA:
- vancomycin
- tigecycline
- linezolid
Microbes in CAP? Abx in CAP?
In order of prevalence:
- Strept pneumo»> H influ (G-), Klebsiella pneumo (G-), pseudomonas, s aureus, moraxella catarrhalis (G-),
- **atypicals: Mycoplasma pneumo, Chlamydia pneumo, Legionella)
Abx:
- *Inpatient:
- benzylpenicillin IV + doxy
- step down to amox + doxy
Severe: (sepsis)
- ceftriaxone IV + azithromycin IV
Outpatient:
- amox OR doxy