Thursday, October 11, 2012

Practice makes perfect

I'm examining Mr. Patient, with his wife sitting off to the side.


Dr. Grumpy: "Okay, hold your hands out in front, like this... now close your eyes... good, now open your eyes, and tap your right fingers like this... okay, now your left fingers..."


Out of the corner of my eye I notice Mrs. Patient doing the same things I'm asking her husband to do.


Dr. Grumpy: "Ma'am, why are you doing that?"

Mrs. Patient: "Just practicing, in case I ever need to see a neurologist."
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19 comments:

  1. jimbo26October 11, 2012 at 7:39 AM

    Practice makes perfect .

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  2. CharlesOctober 11, 2012 at 9:50 AM

    Ask her to take Mr Patient home and play patty cake . . . that way she can practice.

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  3. Mr MobiusOctober 11, 2012 at 9:52 AM

    More importantly, did Mrs Patient illicit any pronator drift?

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  4. AnonymousOctober 11, 2012 at 10:32 AM

    So ... is that simple curiosity, or echopraxia? :)

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  5. ndenunzOctober 11, 2012 at 12:04 PM

    Why don't you make a DVD and sell it so that more people can "pass" their next neuro exam?

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  6. AnonymousOctober 11, 2012 at 12:36 PM

    After successful recovery from a craniotomy at 17, I still check what I have left occasionally.

    No amount of practicing will improve the ability to walk a straight line and the ballet career has long passed me by, but have had to limit the ethanol intake based on whether I can touch my nose with my eyes closed now and again.

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  7. Ivan IlyichOctober 11, 2012 at 12:56 PM

    Let her practice taking an NCV test. I expect she'll wait outside after that.

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  8. AnonymousOctober 11, 2012 at 1:52 PM

    That reminds me of my grandmother. My mom loves to tell the story of how she found her attempting to memorize a test used to diagnoses memory loss/alzheimers

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  9. a.generic docOctober 11, 2012 at 2:03 PM

    It's a good thing you're not a urologist. She'd be dropping her underwear and bending over.

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  10. brentOctober 11, 2012 at 3:42 PM

    hey-you could make it a twofer (seeing two patients at the same time.)

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  11. Steeny LouOctober 11, 2012 at 4:38 PM

    LOL! I can relate to the practicing. As I've transcribed reports that mention how, in mental status exams, some of the things for which patients lose points are things I don't even know myself, I get a little worried if I ever have to go for such exams.

    I practice counting down from 100 backwards by 7's.

    I try to spell "world" backwards.

    I see how fast I can recite the months of the year.

    I don't have time to keep up on the news and I have to admit that I do not know who the current prime minister is of my own country, Canada.

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  12. HildyOctober 11, 2012 at 5:58 PM

    Seriously, Steeny Lou? There's MATH on those exams!??? OMG! I can't count forward by 7s never mind backwards! I'll wind up committed to some looney hatch! This is NOT good news.

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  13. Steeny LouOctober 11, 2012 at 8:18 PM

    Oops, that should say I see how fast I can recite the months of the year BACKWARDS. (Uh-oh, I hope that's not a sign I need to do a mental status exam).

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  14. AnonymousOctober 11, 2012 at 8:56 PM

    being a nurse I've often heard psychiatrists ask pts to spell world backward.While I was a pt myself a psychiatrist came to see me and asked me to spell "world",I quickly said" d,l,r....hey you forgot to tell me to spell it backwards!" He changed to word on me LOL but I still passed.

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  15. Bob FOctober 12, 2012 at 4:46 AM

    Look on the bright side. She wasn't channeling her actions to her hubby. He MIGHT have been remotely controlled you know! :-)

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  16. Steeny LouOctober 12, 2012 at 11:04 AM

    In response to Hildy's comment, I'm hoping they take into consideration a person's baseline. I mean, what if they are dyslexic, such as is the case for my husband!

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  17. Ms. DonnaOctober 12, 2012 at 1:58 PM

    Practicemakes perfect ... And life harder for Yak herders.

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  18. RehabRNOctober 13, 2012 at 4:24 PM

    Doc:

    I love the ones that practice.

    My personal favorite when my crazy neuro asked the MS patient to do the "sobriety test" part of the neuro exam.

    "No way, doc. I'll fall down and kill myself. I can tell you know I'll look as drunk as hell."

    We walked around the room with the cane instead.

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  19. JOctober 14, 2012 at 2:49 PM

    I once did almost the exact same thing during an office visit with my mother. She was an exceptionally difficult person all of her life, and I was the only one of eleven siblings who would tolerate her crap.

    She refused to go into the exam rooms alone and often amused myself by doing things like that, although I rarely got caught. :)

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So wadda you think?