SHOCKING!

My students hear some of my pet issues over and over...but I think they are important (or they wouldn't be pet issues).
One that I think many have appreciated is the "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" approach to patient histories, in which we let the PATIENTS tell us what is going on rather than impose our own definitions on them.
Another is the OXYGEN + GLUCOSE issue; if you don't get enough oxygen and glucose to each and every cell in your body at all times, the curtains are on their way down.

Then there is SHOCK. Shock does not mean "emotionally freaked out" or scandalized; it means that there is NO PERFUSION, i.e, NO BLOOD FLOW TO TISSUES. The CAT scan shows a large area of hypoperfusion (localized shock) in the brain (the white area) due to stroke; this tissue is dead or dying. This is what SHOCK does to the whole brain (and all other organs), which demands 20% of total cardiac output. SHOCK is the ultimate medical emergency, no matter what the cause, and to use that term for emotional freaked-outness is WRONG.
In science, words MATTER.
Stay UNSHOCKED today!