Do these initialisms mean anything to you? <\/p>\n
S.O.S.; S.M.A.R.T.; R.I.C.E.; S.A.M.P.L.E.; F.A.S.T.; C.A.L.M\u2026<\/p>\n
I promised myself I wouldn\u2019t rant on this website, yet here I go again!<\/p>\n
The topic is initialisms masquerading as mnemonics (words that help you remember stuff<\/a>).<\/p>\n Mnemonics work, as long as you remember both the mnemonic and what it\u2019s intended to remind you of. It also helps if you know the topic. I have no medical background, so no amount of mnemonic-izing is going to help me remember gastro-intestinal tract layers or anterior pituitary hormones.<\/p>\n In corporate life and elsewhere, we specify SMART objectives. We remember the word because we want our objectives to be smart<\/em>. And then we remember what the letters stand for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-based. Or was the \u201cR\u201d \u201crelevant\u201d? Oh wait; the \u201cA\u201d was aligned and the \u201cR\u201d was reasonable\u2026 And so on. But even though there\u2019s no universal meaning, the mnemonic does<\/em> help with creating smart objectives.<\/p>\n At school, kids take a CALM course. Once again, we remember the word because we want our lives and careers to be calm<\/em>. And then we remember that the letters stand for Careers and Life Management.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery Good Boy Deserves Favour\/Food\/Fish\/Fudge\/F\u2026\u201d reminds beginning musicians which notes sit on the notes of the staff\/stave. For some reason, it\u2019s memorable\u2014perhaps because I remember the title of the Moody Blues\u2019 seventh album.<\/p>\n But what does \u201cRICE\u201d have to do with First Aid? Or \u201cSAMPLE\u201d? Or \u201cFAST\u201d?<\/p>\n My first aid certification had expired, so I re-certified recently, and had to learn the above mnemonics. I remember the words (because I wrote them down), and I think I remember what situations they apply to (SAMPLE is secondary survey questions I think, FAST is stroke recognition, and RICE is\u2026 a starchy food that goes nicely with vindaloo.)<\/p>\n Now ask me what the mnemonics are supposed to remind me. I remember FAST: Face, Arms, Speech, and Time. But why FAST has to be associated with strokes rather than other health emergencies I don\u2019t know. I guess I just have to remember \u201cFAST strokes\u201d. Associative thought\u2014swimming? Rowing? Painting? Some other activity?<\/p>\n \u201cSAMPLE\u201d? It\u2019s supposed to remind me of S<\/strong>igns\/symptoms, A<\/strong>llergies, M<\/strong>edications, P<\/strong>ast Illnesses, L<\/strong>ast Oral Intake (and\/or last menstrual cycle), and E<\/strong>vents (leading up to the incident).<\/p>\n The \u201cP\u201d is being used to remind us we need to ask about health history. O-k-a-y. And we\u2019re supposed to remember that \u201cL\u201d is for last oral intake. Or sometimes also last menstrual cycle. Perhaps \u201cP\u201d should be for period\u2026 But wait\u2014we don\u2019t ask guys that question, and there\u2019s no need to ask young girls or older women (but what are the age thresholds?) <\/p>\n FYI: this guy is highly unlikely to ask that question of any female of any age in any situation! <\/p>\n Should I ask females about last oral intake as well as or instead of menstruation? Might I be misunderstood? Because of my reluctance to ask the menstrual question, should I remember \u201cSAMPE\u201d for women and \u201cSAMPLE\u201d for men? Should people who are happy to ask \u201cthe question\u201d remember \u201cSAMPLLE\u201d for women? <\/p>\n It\u2019s all so confusing!<\/p>\n As for RICE\u2014I don\u2019t remember what the heck it\u2019s connected to or what the letters stand for. I think I\u2019ll have to hand my first aid certificate back. <\/p>\n Thank goodness for search engines though. Apparently, RICE is for soft tissue injuries\u2014no, not a reminder to apply a rice pack\u2014the treatment is Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. I\u2019ll see if I remember that next time I\u2019m eating curry\u2014rest between mouthfuls, ice my throat, visit the bathroom to relieve compression, and\u2026 I\u2019ll leave you to imagine how I interpret \u201celevate\u201d in the context of vindaloo eating.<\/p>\n It seems that we have to have a mnemonic for everything, no matter how tenuous the link is to the subject in hand. \u201cBEDMAS\u201d is for the sequence of mathematical operations. \u201cRAG\u201d for the colours of traffic lights (okay\u2014I made that one up). And so on.<\/p>\n So here\u2019s another for you\u2014ENOUGH. Let\u2019s see if you can memorize it. There. That\u2019s easy to remember. I trust that mnemonic fetishists everywhere will commit this mnemonic to memory and recall it next time they\u2019re tempted to create a lame one.<\/p>\n Do you have a hate on for any particular acronym or mnemonic? Let me know\u2014leave a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do these initialisms mean anything to you? S.O.S.; S.M.A.R.T.; R.I.C.E.; S.A.M.P.L.E.; F.A.S.T.; C.A.L.M\u2026 I promised myself I wouldn\u2019t rant on this website, yet here I go again! The topic is initialisms masquerading as mnemonics (words that help you remember stuff). Mnemonics work, as long as you remember both the mnemonic and what it\u2019s intended to remind you of. It also… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[568,566,565,567,569,667],"class_list":["post-1184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rant","tag-fast","tag-initialisms","tag-mnemonics","tag-rice","tag-sample","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reggothard.com\/kelvin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nE<\/strong>verything to be remembered does not have to be turned into a mnemonic.
\nN<\/strong>othing is worse than having to remember a mnemonic before you can recall the information itself.
\nO<\/strong>ther ways to remember include rote learning, committing to memory, and having a cheat sheet.
\nU<\/strong>n-connected words used as mnemonics are a pain in the A.R.S.E (Anus-Rectum Sit-upon Exit)
\nG<\/strong>rrrrrrrr!
\nH<\/strong>elp!!!!! (aka S.O.S.)<\/p>\n