Education Library
Clinical Quickies
The stuff you know.. just not always off the top of your head. Fast, focused clinical refreshers that get straight to what matters.
95 quickies
Behavioral Health / Sleep
2 topicsCardiac / Vascular
8 topicsAtrial Fibrillation
AF is three decisions: stability, symptom/rate-rhythm strategy, and stroke prevention.
BNP
When to order it, how to read it, and what it actually tells you.
Heart Failure Exacerbation
Recognizing decompensation is more useful than chasing a single BNP, weight, or edema finding.
Hypertension Management
One high reading is a data point — confirm the pattern, assess cardiovascular risk, and treat the diagnosis, not the number.
Orthostatic Hypotension
Orthostatic hypotension is a sign, not a diagnosis.
Peripheral Edema
Edema does not automatically mean fluid overload.
Tachycardia & Bradycardia
Rate is a clue, not the diagnosis.
Troponin
Elevated troponin means myocardial injury — not automatically myocardial infarction.
Dermatology / Skin
11 topicsAcne / Rosacea
Same face, different inflammation.
Cellulitis vs Mimics
Not every red leg is cellulitis.
Contact Dermatitis vs Atopic Dermatitis
Distribution and exposure history often separate them.
Fungal Skin Infections
Name the site before choosing the treatment.
Pressure Injuries / Wounds
A better dressing cannot fix ongoing pressure or poor perfusion.
Psoriasis
Treat the skin — and screen the joints.
Rash Assessment — First Pass
Describe the rash before naming it.
Scabies / Lice
Infestations fail treatment when contacts and application are ignored.
Skin Cancer Warning Signs
Know what not to watch.
Urticaria vs Anaphylaxis
Hives are skin findings. Anaphylaxis is a systemic syndrome.
Viral vs Drug vs Allergic Eruptions
The timeline is often more useful than the color of the rash.
End of Life / Advance Care Planning
6 topicsAdvance Care Planning
The form is not the conversation.
Advance Directives
Future wishes ≠ current medical orders.
Healthcare Power of Attorney
Emergency contact ≠ healthcare decision-maker.
Hospice Appropriateness
Recognize the trajectory, not just the diagnosis.
Palliative Care vs Hospice
Similar goals. Different timing.
POLST / Portable Medical Orders
POLST = Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment. It's a medical order, not an advance directive.
Endocrine / Metabolic
6 topicsA1c vs Serum Glucose
A1c is an average; serum glucose is a moment.
Diabetes Management
Treat the patient's glucose pattern, comorbidities, and risk — not just the A1c.
Hypercalcemia / Hypocalcemia
Always interpret calcium with albumin — and sometimes ionized calcium.
Hyperglycemia vs Hypoglycemia
The glucose number matters — but the symptoms, medications and mechanism matter more.
Thyroid Management
Treat the biochemical pattern and the patient — then give the axis time to equilibrate.
TSH + Free T4
TSH makes more sense when you know what Free T4 is doing.
ENT / Upper Respiratory
3 topicsOtitis Media / Otitis Externa
Ear pain is not the diagnosis — identify the anatomic location of inflammation. Anatomy and pathogen differences determine whether treatment is topical or systemic.
Pharyngitis
Use clinical probability to guide testing — testing confirms who benefits from antibiotics. Avoid antibiotics without a confirmed bacterial target.
URI / Acute Sinusitis
Most early upper-respiratory syndromes are viral. Mucus color does not diagnose bacterial sinusitis — identify the clinical pattern before prescribing antibiotics.
Hematology / Coagulation
9 topicsAnemia — First-Pass Interpretation
Anemia is a finding. The first job is to classify the mechanism.
Anticoagulation + Bleeding
Identify the agent first. Reversal is drug-specific.
D-dimer
A negative D-dimer is powerful — if you use it correctly.
Hemoglobin & Hematocrit
The trend often tells you more than the value.
INR / PT / PTT
These tests measure different parts of coagulation — and none is a universal 'bleeding test.'
Iron Studies
Ferritin alone can lie when inflammation is present.
MCV
Small, normal, or large — let it narrow the differential, not end it.
Platelets
Trend first. Panic second.
WBC
Leukocytosis does not equal infection.
Infection
11 topicsBacterial vs Viral vs Fungal Infection
Classify the syndrome before the organism.
Blood Cultures — Positive ≠ Automatically True Bacteremia
A positive bottle may represent true bloodstream infection or contamination.
C. difficile Infection
Test the right stool, interpret the assay in clinical context — a positive result alone does not equal active infection. Treat the clinical infection, not the test.
Lactate — Elevated Lactate ≠ Automatically Sepsis
Lactate reflects altered production and/or clearance — not a single diagnosis.
Post-Discharge Fever / Persistent Infection Symptoms
Persistent symptoms after discharge require reassessment — not automatic extension of the original treatment.
Procalcitonin
Procalcitonin modifies probability; it does not replace the patient.
Pyelonephritis
A kidney infection is more than a positive urinalysis.
Sepsis — Infection ≠ Sepsis
Sepsis requires infection plus organ dysfunction.
Uncomplicated Cystitis
Treat the bladder syndrome, not the urinalysis.
UTI vs Asymptomatic Bacteriuria
Bacteriuria without symptoms is not automatically a UTI.
Vaginitis — BV vs Candida vs Trichomonas
Vaginal discharge is not one diagnosis.
Liver / GI
11 topicsAlbumin
Low albumin does not automatically mean 'needs more protein.'
Alkaline Phosphatase + Bilirubin
The pattern matters more than either number alone.
AST vs ALT
Elevated transaminases do not equal liver failure.
Constipation
Treat the pattern, identify why it changed, and match the bowel regimen to the underlying cause — not just add more laxatives.
Diarrhea — Acute vs Persistent
Before ordering a stool panel, ask what the result would change.
Diverticulitis
Uncomplicated and complicated diverticulitis are different problems.
GERD / Peptic Ulcer Disease
Not every epigastric symptom is 'just reflux.'
GI Bleed — Clues Before the Obvious Bleed
GI bleeding can declare itself before frank hematemesis or hematochezia.
Lipase — Elevated Lipase ≠ Automatically Pancreatitis
Lipase supports pancreatitis only when it fits the syndrome.
Nausea / Vomiting
Antiemetics treat nausea — they do not explain why the patient is vomiting.
Pancreatitis
Diagnose the syndrome, assess severity, then identify the cause.
Medication Safety / TOC
1 topicMusculoskeletal
3 topicsNeurologic
2 topicsPulmonary
9 topicsAcute Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is usually viral. A cough after a URI is not automatically an antibiotic problem — exclude pneumonia and manage supportively.
Asthma Management
Control, risk, and reliever use matter more than the label 'mild.'
Atelectasis vs Infiltrate vs Consolidation
These are imaging descriptors, not interchangeable diagnoses.
COPD Exacerbation
Not every exacerbation is infectious.
Dyspnea — Don't Anchor on One System
Shortness of breath is a symptom, not a pulmonary diagnosis.
Hypoxemia / Low SpO2
SpO2 is an estimate, not a diagnosis.
Pleural Effusion
Pleural fluid is a finding — the question is why it accumulated.
Pneumonia — Expected Recovery vs Treatment Failure
Clinical improvement often precedes radiographic clearing.
Pulmonary Embolism — Pretest Probability + D-dimer + Imaging
PE diagnosis is a pathway, not a single test.
Renal / Electrolytes
12 topicsACE/ARB & Creatinine
A creatinine bump after ACEi/ARB is not an automatic stop sign.
AKI vs CKD vs Acute-on-Chronic
An abnormal creatinine tells you kidney function is abnormal. The timeline tells you whether it is acute, chronic, or both.
BUN/Creatinine Ratio
A clue, not a diagnosis.
Chronic Kidney Disease Management
CKD management is risk reduction, not just watching creatinine. Protect remaining kidney function and address cardiovascular risk — they are inseparable.
Dehydration / Volume Depletion
Volume depletion is a clinical diagnosis supported by data — not a BUN/creatinine ratio.
eGFR
One eGFR does not equal CKD.
Hyperkalemia
Before treating the potassium, make sure it is real — then decide how dangerous it is.
Hypernatremia
High sodium is usually a water problem before it is a sodium problem.
Hypokalemia
Low potassium is the finding. The clinical question is why it is low — and whether it is dangerous.
Hypomagnesemia & Hypermagnesemia
Magnesium abnormalities rarely live alone — look at potassium, calcium, kidney function, medications, and symptoms.
Hyponatremia
Low sodium does not automatically mean sodium deficit.
Pre-Renal vs Intrinsic AKI
A rising creatinine tells you what changed — not why.
95 quickies across 15 categories
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