Are mnemonics useful?

[Aprz]

http://www.emtlife.com/showthread.php?t=27746

In my opinion, mnemonics are useful. They have their limits, if you rely on them, don't expand on them, ask questions that are irrelevant cause it's part of mnemonic, you are limiting yourself.

Sometimes mnemonics are more complicated than just learning the subject, but other times, you don't have enough experience or knowledge to rely on to ask questions or look for things without mnemonics. For example, I've never seen organophosphate poisoning. Would you expect me to recognize it without being taught the acronym SLUDGEM?

What do you think? Do you think mnemonics have their use? Are they more of a problem than helpful?

 

[JPINFV]

For testing?

Sure.

For real life?

Not so sure. Stress decreases recall, real life is more stressful than a canned testing situation, and mnemonics aren't helpful if you can't remember what they mean.

 

[mycrofft]

Yes but usually not for me. Some of my students like them. The ARC basic CPR/FA class doesn't use them anymore (ABC was cool, but CAB isn't; ditto Check-call-care, but we still use it).

 

[VFlutter]

I never found them helpful except maybe for testing purposes. I have never stopped and thought of a mnemonic during a stressful situation.

 

[Tigger]

I think they might be helpful depending on how a person learns. They are not really helpful for me, I have hard time remembering the mnemonics themselves, much less what they stand for. I'd rather just learn it my own way.

I've never had one crop on my thought process on a call though. SAMPLE and OPQRST are great and all to learn, but my own personal assessment "style" covers them and doesn't force me to ask all the questions in order.

 

[EpiEMS]

For tests, they're great. For practice, eh. They're most useful for things you don't often see. Aprz mentioned SLUDGEM -- that's a good one. On the opposite end, DCAP-BTLS is a totally useless acronym (because if something is a laceration, I think I'll know ).

 

[JPINFV]

I hate DCAP-BTLS with the strength of a thousands suns.

 

[EpiEMS]

I hate DCAP-BTLS with the strength of a thousands suns.

It's the most ridiculous mnemonic for BLS care. As if I need a mnemonic to remind me to look for things like deformity and lacerations -- do they think we're that dumb?

 

[JPINFV]

It's the most ridiculous mnemonic for BLS care. As if I need a mnemonic to remind me to look for things like deformity and lacerations -- do they think we're that dumb?

Yes.

 

[medicdan]

They're useful for me to remember causal pathways, and conditions to consider... like aeiou-tips or the hs and ts.

 

[Outbac1]

For me, more no than yes. So I'll say maybe.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Not really.

 

[NYMedic828]

Useless.

Rarely does anything real world play out in a means that following a mnemonic would be beneficial.

 

[medic417]

Yes otherwise as a Paramedic w/o a basic partner I would forget all basic steps and patients would die.

Maybe when brand new I might have thought of a couple of the sayings but really you start doing and forget all the test memory tools.

 

[DesertMedic66]

I think they are useful as a new provider until you get more experience.

 

[MSDeltaFlt]

For cookie cutter medicine, yes. But for true patient care and advocacy, not in a million years.

There's a difference between "knowing" a thing and "understanding" a thing. All mnemonics do is help to recall the "what", not the "how". Those two are part of the "knowing". If you know the "why", then the "what" and the "how" will always makes sense. And "understanding" incorporates all three.

 

[medichopeful]

For cookie cutter medicine, yes. But for true patient care and advocacy, not in a million years.

There's a difference between "knowing" a thing and "understanding" a thing. All mnemonics do is help to recall the "what", not the "how". Those two are part of the "knowing". If you know the "why", then the "what" and the "how" will always makes sense. And "understanding" incorporates all three.

Agreed, but for certain things they can definitely be useful. One that comes to mind is the "CAGE" assessment for alcohol abuse.

 

[MSDeltaFlt]

Agreed, but for certain things they can definitely be useful. One that comes to mind is the "CAGE" assessment for alcohol abuse.

Yeah, Googled that. And um... not really.

 

[titmouse]

I like them

 

[medichopeful]

Yeah, Googled that. And um... not really.

Eh, I like them for some things! Not everything, mind you (I like actually understanding things to) but I find them useful at times!