Unconscious

Fainting, or syncope in medspeak, is not quite what I had in mind, but like the previously mentioned JAMA journal, I'd like to have some classical painting, preferably with 18th-century powdered wig extravaganza on my blog as well. So here it is. But the topic of discussion is really OLD CARTS. Thanks to our school's insistence on clinical exposure from year one, we had a chance to memorize this tried-and-true mnemonic that doctors use each time when they ask about pain. O=onset; L=location; D=duration; C=character; A=aggravating factors; R=relieving factors; T=temporal aspects; S=scale of 1-10. By the time a clinician is practicing, this is old hat, so ingrained that it's happens almost unconsciously. If you pay attention to your doctor, you'll find most of these elements when s/he asks you about your symptoms. Some doctors have such an awesome conversational style combined with just the right dose of personality, that it's tough to spot. But oftentimes the scale of 1-10 is the dead giveaway that you've been had, so to speak. And you thought you were entertaining the doc with your tales of last month's trip to that Star Trek convention.

I have a long way to go (the Star Trek convention's in Denver ;), but today, I was relaxed enough to lapse into OLD CARTS, all in Polish by the way, during a conversation with my mom. Oddly enough, we're covering the GI system, and she called me out of the blue with a related question. So after this "writeup," I'll be researching some stuff for her. HIPAA rules prevent me from elaborating any further.