More Tips to Help You Improve Your *Medical* Memory (Part 2)

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A senior male staff nurse demonstrates the medical mannequin to a group of medical student nurses . They are all standing around the hospital bed listening to him .
Nothing is ever achieved overnight when it comes to practicing, teaching, or learning in the medical field.

Imagine standing in front of your instructor on the day of your check-offs and your mind goes blank. Lucky for you, you memorized a shortcut to the procedure, closed your eyes, repeated it, and with confidence, you performed the task flawlessly. How did you get there? Here are 10 more ideas that can help, whether you are a healthcare student, a healthcare teacher, or you just want to improve your medical memory in other areas of your life. Improving your medical memory is important and can be incorporated into all areas of your life. We discussed 10 tips for improving your medical memory in Part 1. Now let’s look at 10 additional ways to improve your medical memory.

Know your learning style

The most basic step to learning how to have a perfect recall of the steps to your procedure is knowing how you learn. Are you tactile, auditory, or visual? Tactile learners need to write it down, make a model, or complete repetitive tasks to memorize topics. Auditory learners can listen to repetitive speech to understand their tasks. Visual learners use writings, graphs, charts, and other images to retain their information.

Rinse and Repeat

Unfortunately, one of the best ways for medical students to learn a procedure is to repeat it. As previously discussed in Part 1, this means either practicing the actual procedure, watching it done over and over, or listening to dictation to accomplish memorization. It takes some time to retain knowledge in long-term memory, and so must be done frequently and correctly.

Remember to Use Mnemonics

If you are an instructor, you can sometimes have an occasional lapse in memory when teaching. Luckily, you can improve your memory by teaching mnemonics to your students. For example, if you are a teacher, you can teach your students the ABCs of CPR. The ABCs of CPR are: Airway- Breathing- Circulation. If you are a student, this mnemonic is easy to remember and simple to recall.

Cheat Sheets

Your surgeon, before performing more complex procedures, reviews the procedures and how to perform them. Even the higher-level medical professional could use a written reminder, procedure book, or mental breakdown of procedures before performing them to enhance memory recall.

Rest

Not everything has to do with learning. Your brain will not retain all the information your medical career needs to be able to regurgitate without the proper care. Resting your brain allows it time to transfer the short-term cram session into long-term memory.

Don’t cram!

You will not do your brain any favors by not studying daily, doing repetitions, and learning everything you need to know just before the appointed time. Yes, you will be able to remember some things, but it will not be retained in your long-term memory and once you forget it- it is gone.

Teach others

Ironically, the best way to learn and retain medical knowledge is to teach it. A nurse may learn a better way to insert an IV when the student she observes performed the task slightly differently than the way she was instructed. This is an example of a “teachable moment” when mastering medical memorization techniques.

Take time to research

The more you know about a subject, the more your brain connects the dots and the easier it is to recall what you have learned. Find ways to make boring topics interesting, and your memory recall will improve.

Associate your medical topics with non-medical topics

If you are a tactile learner, you may make a routine out of a procedure. Once repeated, most of it becomes muscle memory. If you memorize by association, lab values can be associated with baking times, for example. Associating certain songs with a medical topic can help you remember medical information. For example, you could use a song rhythm to keep the beat when practicing CPR techniques.

Take the time to learn

Nothing is ever achieved overnight when it comes to practicing, teaching, or learning in the medical field. Even though everything is fast-paced, you need to take the time to learn and memorize your chosen tricks.

Learn your style, use the tricks and tips your instructor provides, or remember to review materials regularly before performing tasks. Follow the Avidity Medical Design Blog to learn more about many different areas of healthcare. Visit Avidity Medical Design Academy to enroll in a healthcare course to help you continue to broaden your fund of knowledge about many different healthcare subjects that you can use in everyday living.

10 Things You Can Do To Improve Your *Medical* Memory Today (Part 1)

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A young woman holding a book while sitting at a table and looking at a laptop while studying
Memory is a skill that is improved upon over time.

Our brains are capable of incredible things, but it doesn’t feel like it when we struggle with memory. Forgetting a name or where your put your car keys is a common annoyance most people accept as normal. However, the inability to recall certain information can harm a person’s education or career. In the medical world, it can harm lives. Here are 10 things you can do to improve your medical memory. These tips might only be used to pass an exam or recall an administrative procedure, but they could be used to save a life. 

  • Use Mnemonic Devices: A mnemonic device is an acronym, rhyme, or other cognitive hint to make memorizing things easier. You might be familiar with mnemonic devices used to memorize the musical notes on a staff or the names of the planets. FAST is a familiar medical mnemonic device to identify signs of a stroke (Face, Arm, Speech, Time).
  • Try Using Visualization: Creating a mental picture of a space can also improve memory, especially when it comes to memorizing chronological or sequential items. Choose a space that is familiar, and visualize those items in that space as you walk through the room. Recall that space and the items when needed to improve recollection. 
  • Repeat Often: There are reasons many of us had to memorize simple addition or multiplication tables. Repetition helps to cement memories. It takes time and isn’t always the most efficient way to recall items, but it works. 
  • Apply What You Learn: You may have studied for hours, but remembering how to actually do something sometimes requires experience. This rings true even for medical coding or administrative tasks that are less experiential and more data-driven. Once you use information, your brain prioritizes it as worthy of remembering. 
  • Practice Using Your Memory in Different Situations: If you look at the winners of memory championships, they are never first-time contestants. This is because remembering things does not rely solely on natural ability. It is a skill that is improved upon over time. 
  • Enhance Your Auxiliary Knowledge: When you are new to a subject, information seems overwhelming and out-of-reach. While it is crucial to focus on the fundamentals when learning, some auxiliary knowledge can spark interest and create relevance. When it comes to medical memory, case studies can enhance auxiliary knowledge. 
  • Use Your Senses: Many people say smell is strongly correlated with memory, and most people anecdotally agree with this thought. Anything that you can do to engage more senses (i.e. reading, watching, and speaking) will improve your medical memory. Take notes. Read your notes aloud. Watch lectures. It will all help. 
  • Eat a Healthy Diet: Many foods and beverages contain chemicals that are toxins to the brain, so eat a healthy diet. Drink lots of water. Your gut feeds your mind, so a healthy diet will improve memory. 
  • Get a Good Night’s Sleep: If you don’t get enough sleep, your neurons won’t work properly. This means your memory function will diminish. Instead of cramming the night before a test or important workday, go to bed early. You will perform better. 
  • Don’t Procrastinate: Don’t wait until the last minute to memorize something important. The stress involved in last-minute cramming limits the brain’s ability to retain information. Instead, work on memorizing information consistently. Not only will you get better at it, but you’ll have time to commit it to long-term memory. 

Improve Your Medical Memory with Additional Practice

The medical field is one filled with a ton of information, and it is impossible to remember it all. That is why you see experienced medical professionals searching through reference materials. This is not to mention the constant barrage of new information. Using the tips above, you can improve your medical memory and remember the things that are essential to do your job in a way that is efficient, correct, and safe. Follow the Avidity Medical Design Blog for more healthcare tips that you can use in everyday living. Visit Avidity Medical Design Academy to enroll in an online healthcare course to learn even more about the field.

The Many Benefits of YouTube in Healthcare eLearning

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The human body hasn’t changed all that much in thousands of years. What has changed is our level of knowledge about it, and the tools we use to educate ourselves on what is going on inside all of us. While there’s nothing wrong with reading text books and examining medical diagrams (if that method is the one that cements the facts you need in your mind) there are a lot of useful tools available at the touch of a button. One of those tools is YouTube.

The Benefits of YouTube in Healthcare eLearning

The Benefits of YouTube in Healthcare eLearningYouTube is the go-to location for everything from adorable cat videos to people failing at parkour and bike ramping, but the site is also replete with videos on anatomy, surgery, proper technique for delivering CPR, and hundreds of other useful healthcare facts. These videos are typically easy to find, and because of the nature of YouTube they’re free to access aside from the cost in time of watching an ad or two. Also thanks to the advances in technology and mobile devices you can watch these videos on your phone, on a tablet, on your laptop, or even on an old-fashioned desktop machine.

YouTube has revolutionized the way we think about video, and it has made things that once would have been expensive or difficult to find easy to locate and free to watch. Not only that but due to the impact of social media it’s possible to quickly and easily share YouTube videos with classmates, instructors, and even friends who might just have a passing interest in the field. You can watch these videos over and over again without any costs until you have absorbed them completely.

The Future of eLearning?

The Internet has made it possible for students to connect and share information in ways that would never have been possible before. It’s also rendered the traditional classroom unnecessary for a number of different subjects. Students who choose to embrace elearning need access to all the tools they can get, and YouTube is quickly becoming one of the best sources of useful, actionable information they could ask for.

For more information on elearning in healthcare simply contact us today!

How To Research Effectively When Writing Term Papers

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Writing term papers isn’t easy no matter what class you’re taking, but it’s something you’re going to have to do sooner or later. And the first step to writing a great term paper is to make sure you do good, effective research. While it might seem easy in the age of the Internet it’s easy to stumble into mistakes when it comes to checking your facts. That’s why it’s important to follow these tips.

How to Research Effectively When Writing Term Papers

Tip #1: Only Use Reliable Sources

How to Research Effectively When Writing Term PapersThere are billions of websites in existence, but not all of them are equal when it comes to doing research. Wikipedia is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to an unreliable source, but opinion blogs and user-created content is typically not what you should be citing in a term paper. Generally speaking you want something published by a newspaper, a scholarly journal, an encyclopedia, or other reference source to provide credible information for your term paper.

Tip #2: Know What You’re Looking For

The key to research is to know what you’re looking for. For example the topic of depression is huge, and it’s difficult to get more than general information on the topic. If someone is attempting to research the correlation between depression and veterans who have served in war zones though that is much more specific. The narrower you can make your search terms the more likely you are to find information that’s specific to your particular paper.

Tip #3: Utilize All Your Resources

When doing research it’s important not to get pigeon-holed. While the Internet has plenty of sources (Google Scholar and InfoMine are just two solid examples of free academic sources), it’s important not to forget that books are still on the shelves and ready to be cracked open. There are still scholarly journals and periodicals being published, and many of them can now be found in ebook format. To top it all off there are human resources such as librarians who can help you direct your queries in order to find the best information as quickly as you can.

For more information on how you can come out on top in your classes simply contact us today!

How to Avoid Falling Behind in Your Online Classes

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how to avoid falling behind in online classesOnline classes are great for working adults who want to keep their jobs and earn a degree at the same time. However, the nature of online classes can make it easy to miss a lesson here or there or skip an assignment. Every misstep can add up to an ultimate F in the class. Before you get too far into the semester, make sure to take our advice on how to avoid falling behind in your online classes:

  • Put it on your calendar: Sure, you have a digital syllabus, but you probably aren’t checking it for due dates when you make appointments or schedule work meetings. Once you get a syllabus, make sure to input every single due date into your digital calendar so that you will always be alerted when an upcoming assignment is due. The old “I forgot” excuse is officially obsolete, and your instructors know it. This also helps you avoid over-booking yourself when you need extra time to prepare for an exam or write a paper.
  • Get your household on board: Your family members don’t necessarily need to know when every discussion post is due, but they should have a heads up about major tests and assignments. If you have a family calendar, put those dates up there so that your spouse and/or kids know when you need extra time to study or write a paper. If your spouse operates digitally, make some time now to go through all those dates together so s/he can input them into a calendar. This simple but important step can save a lot of headaches down the road.
  • Ask for help from your instructor: Instructors prefer that you adhere to deadlines and generally enforce strict policies for late work, but at the same time they’re human. If you have a good track record but happen to fall behind for one reason or another, send an email to your instructor. You will probably still have to pay the penalty for late work, but s/he will appreciate the heads up. If something more serious has come up that will affect several assignments, ask your instructor what you can do to get everything turned in and keep your grade up. Instructors are often willing to offer extensions when they are asked directly. They just don’t like to advertise this to the hundreds of students they teach each semester for obvious reasons.

Don’t fall behind this semester! Take these steps to stay on top of your online class and earn the grade you deserve. For more tips on how to stay organized when taking online classes, contact us.

Tips For How to Stay Organized in the Online Classroom

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Keeping everything organized in college is hard to do, but for students who are taking online courses and thus never set foot in an actual classroom organization can be both a requirement and a nightmare. To stay on top of online coursework though it’s important for students to take these tips to heart.

How to Stay Organized in the Online Classroomhow to stay organized in the online classroom

Tip#1: Make Your Calendar Functions Your Friend

In the old days you could pin a calendar to the wall over your desk and mark out all of your goals and needs on it. An overview of the month let you see when tests were, when assignments were due, etc. While that still works it’s also possible to use a smartphone to set reminders so that tests and due dates don’t sneak up on you. Sit down with your syllabus and plot out the semester to make sure you know what it is due when.

Tip #2: Ignorance of The Course is No Excuse

When you first sign up for a course, whether it’s online or in-person, the teacher is going to give you a syllabus. Don’t just toss it in a drawer sight-unseen; read it. If you know what’s on the syllabus then you’re never going to be surprised when a test or quiz shows up. You’ll understand how you’re going to be graded, and you’ll know about big projects you need to complete from day one. While you might not know all of the material required for the course, you do know the date you’re expected to learn it by.

Tip #3: Make A Friend

While never actually spending time in a physical classroom is one of the big benefits of online courses, it can also be a problem if you attempt to tackle everything by yourself. If you make friends with someone taking the same course that you are it becomes easier to stay on track and keep to deadlines. It’s like having a workout buddy; even when you don’t want to crack the books or you forgot what day it is your friend will be there to help keep both of you on the road to success.

Tip #4: Make it a Priority

Life is complicated, and things happen. If you want to succeed with your online course though you need to make your education a priority and put your nose to the grind stone. There’s no two ways about it; dedication and attention to detail pays off.

For more information on how you can succeed in your online courses simply contact us today!

How to Improve Your Concentration During Study Time With 4 Simple Strategies

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Concentrating in our frenetic world is challenging. Getting away from it all and finding time to focus is next to impossible. Between cell phones, tablets, laptops, gaming consoles, email alerts and hectic schedules, sometimes it’s a wonder that we find time to breathe. Everywhere you turn, there’s another story of a relationship dissolving, jobs lost, opportunities missed or health suffering from that stress and inability to mentally escape and focus.

If finding time to concentrate on the little things like planning a vacation or building a budget is hard, is it any wonder that students everywhere are looking for solutions and strategies focused on how to improve your concentration during study time?

how to improve your concentration during study timeConcentration is a Struggle for Most Students

It’s a serious problem, and one with dangerous side effects in the student community, problems that go beyond sleepless nights and stressed out days. In a 2011 study published in The Journal of Physician Assistant Education, more than 10% of the students studied reported having misused prescription stimulants to boost their academic performance. Of those, more than 90% said that their primary goal was to boost concentration or focus. The struggle is real.

Fortunately, you don’t have to resort to dangerous or illegal activities to give yourself an academic edge. Simply realizing that concentration isn’t just a want, but an actual need, can work wonders for prioritizing focus and concentration. Here are four more tips and tactics for improving concentration, not only during study time but in the rest of your life as well.

Simple Strategy #1: Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!

It seems like the whole world wants us to drink more water. Recent studies are lending weight to that argument in a very specific way. In 2012, The Journal of Nutrition released a study that showed that even mild dehydration led to marked inattention. One of the most significant impacts of this study is that the inattention set in long before feelings of thirst were felt. That means you don’t actually have to feel thirsty for dehydration to already have started waging war with your mental acumen. Before your designated study time (which we’ll discuss in a bit more detail next), drink 16-24 ounces of water.

Simple Strategy #2: Create a Fairly Rigid Routine

Whether we like it or not, humans are creatures of habit. The more habitual something is, the more ingrained it gets into our character and behavior. If you struggle with focus or concentration, you need to carve out a solid block of time on your schedule that’s dedicated to cracking the books, taking notes and other study-related tasks.

Be realistic as you carve out this block. Make sure it won’t interfere with things that will cause distractions. This means not just isolating yourself and going hermit style, but also not missing out on activities or events that will distract you to the point of absolute frustration. Once you designate that block, stick to it – religiously. If you have to, institute a system of punishments and rewards to keep you accountable.

Simple Strategy #3: Have a Study Agenda in Place

Studying means different things to different people. The demands of one class might greatly exceed the demands of another. This means you’ll need to create custom strategies and objectives for each class and give them designated blocks of your scheduled study time. A lot of students have a hard time getting in the “groove” of their study mojo. If you dedicate the first 15 minutes of your study time towards creating an agenda of which classes you’re going to tackle, which chapters you have to read, which assignments you have to complete and a deadline to get it done in, you can get your mind in gear and have a clear task laid out before. Just knowing the lay of a battlefield can tremendously boost your chances of success.

Simple Strategy #4: Get Physical!

In her book, The Charisma Myth, author Olivia Fox Cabane comments, “If we’re not stimulated after a short period of time, we look around for something that will do the job. This is true whether we’re reading a dull news story or involved in a conversation.” Part of this is due to how active we are mentally. There’s always a new tweet or status update or group discussion on LinkedIn going on. The Internet never sleeps, and now, neither are we! If we’re not stimulated, our brains wonder all over the place. Olivia recommends activity as simple as just wiggling your toes or rolling your foot at the ankle.

Need more tips on being a better student? It’s one of our specialties. We design courses for new students as well as working professionals earning new credentials or enhancing their current skill set. Find out more by visiting our website or contact us today for specific strategies and recommendations.