MD/DO

Reviewed February 2024 Sample Question: A 61-year-old man with hypertension is brought to the emergency department 20 minutes after having a generalized tonic–clonic seizure. He has had recurrent headaches over the past 6 months. He frequently travels throughout South America, where he swims in fresh water and eats street food, including meat and fish. He read more…

Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground. -Theodore Roosevelt Welcome back to Roshcast Episode 34! This week we continue our collaboration with the EM Clerkship podcast, focusing on appendicitis. Don’t forget that we launched another trauma ring tone contest last week, so listen up through episode 38 to win the read more…

We already know the pass rate for the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Certification Exam hovers around 85%. This article is going to show two very easy ways to help increase your Pediatric Emergency Medicine Certification Exam score by 10%. If you are not familiar with the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Certification exam, here is a detailed outline of the topics that may appear on your exam. 

While there is no magic pill or wand to significantly increase your exam score, these two techniques are the most useful, easy to implement and only requires a little of your time. This means anyone can take advantage of them. The first tactic is to use a system over a couple of months to identify what you don’t know. Sounds easy, right? The key is to go through a curriculum and identify what you don’t know – not what you are weak at – but what you don’t know. The second strategy is to take advantage of human error. Tests are written by humans, of course, and humans make errors. This article will show you 5 very easy techniques to narrow down an answer choice to either the correct answer or to a 50/50 probability – even without knowing anything about the topic. By combining these two strategies, you’ll be able to increase your Family Medicine certification score by 100 points – which could be the difference between passing or failing. Let’s get started.

This article covers two easy strategies to help increase your Special Purpose Exam (SPEX) score by 10%. If you are not familiar with the SPEX, here is everything you need to know.  While there is no magic pill or wand that will increase your exam score, these two techniques are useful, easy to implement, and read more…

Reviewed January 2024 Ectopic Pregnancy Sample question: A 24-year-old woman presents to the emergency department with abdominal pain. She states that the pain started acutely this morning and has been progressively worsening, causing her to vomit. The patient has a medical history of several sexually transmitted infections. She is currently sexually active with both men read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Polycythemia Vera Sample Question: A 57-year-old woman presents to the physician with progressive headaches and dizziness for the past 2 months. During this time, she has also noticed generalized itching when taking a bath. Additionally, she reports recent abdominal pain and a reddish discoloration of her urine. Her temperature is 37.6°C, heart read more…

People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. -Rob Siltanen Welcome back to Roshcast Episode 33! This episode marks an incredible milestone for Roshcast. Exactly 365 days ago, Roshcast was born (Apgars 7 and 9). It is wild to look back and think about how much read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Retinal Detachment Sample question: A 67-year-old man presents to the emergency department with vision changes for the last few hours. He describes a painless decrease in the vision in his left eye. This was preceded by an increase in floaters in his vision. Fundoscopic exam reveals a floating, gray “cloud.” What is read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Pterygium Sample question: A 62-year-old man presents with symptoms of left eye irritation for the past 3 days. He is a landscaper and is often outside. Physical examination reveals a fleshy, triangular growth from the medial canthus toward the cornea.. He says that the growth has been there for months, but it read more…

Reviewed March 2024 Pyloric Stenosis Sample question: A 3-week-old boy presents with two days of nonbilious projectile vomiting. Examination reveals a mass in the infant’s right upper quadrant. On a barium upper GI series report, the radiologist states a string sign is present. Which of the following is this infant at greatest risk of developing?

Reviewed January 2024 Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) Syndrome Sample question: A 23-year-old man presents to your clinic with intermittent episodes of chest discomfort, heart palpitations, and decreased exercise tolerance. Which of the following ECG findings would most strongly suggest a diagnosis of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome?

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -Sharon Begley Welcome back to Roshcast Episode 32! We are returning to our regular format – letting the question back randomly generate this week’s material. We will have another collaborative episode with the EM Clerkship podcast soon. We start this episode off with another rapid review based on read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Fat-Soluble Vitamin Deficiencies Sample question: A 2-year-old boy is brought by his parents to the clinic because of opacity and hyperpigmentation of both eyes. His skin is noted to be dry and scaly, especially on the arms, legs, shoulders, and buttocks. He also gets sick frequently. Physical examination reveals an afebrile and read more…

The only journey is the one within. -Rainer Maria Rilke Welcome back to Episode 31! We are continuing our collaborative effort with the EM Clerkship podcast, focusing this week on tachydysrhythmias in addition to a mixture of random topics. We start the episode off with another rapid review of a few of the recent blog read more…

Reviewed February 2024

Reviewed February 2024 Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Sample question: A 28-year-old woman presents to the physician because she and her partner have been trying to conceive for the past year without success. She reports irregular menstrual periods, with cycles ranging from 20 to 50 days apart. Physical examination reveals acne and hirsutism. Her body mass read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Ulcerative Colitis Sample question: A 23-year-old man presents to the clinic with persistent bloody and mucoid diarrhea, severe abdominal cramps, weight loss, and fatigue for the past 2 months. His vital signs are within normal limits. Examination is significant for tenderness in the left lower quadrant and hypogastrium. Stool culture, examination for read more…

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. -Carol Burnett Welcome back to Episode 30! First, we must congratulate Sean for winning the trauma ring tone challenge by being the first to respond after the episode release. An honorable mention goes out to Nich and Dhinakar. Stay tuned for future read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) Sample question: A 19-year-old woman presents with 4 days of high fever, headache, and myalgias. She also developed a blanching erythematous rash with macules on her wrists and ankles that spread to her trunk. She reports no history of distant travel but was camping at a local read more…

Reviewed February 2024 Anticholinergic Toxidrome Sample question: A 28-year-old man presents with his friends to the ED with altered mental status. The patient has no known medical or allergic history. His friends state that he was well until 1 hour ago. They have been camping, “living off the land,” and eating an assortment of berries read more…