Mnemonic

A mnemonic is a memory aid where an acronym or easy to remember phrase is used to retain other information. Doctors commonly use these, particularly when studying anatomy in order to memorize the names of bones and nerves which often have similar Latin language names. Some of the mnemonics used on the series are:
*MIDNIT - to run through a type of differential diagnosis known as a "surgical sieve" of the most common causes of disease pathology - metabolic, inflammation, degenerative, neoplastic, infection, and trauma.
*Allison Cameron remembers the bones of the wrist with the mnemnoic "Scared lovers try positions that they can't handle" for scaphoid, lunate, triquetrial, pisiform, trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, and hamate.
*Martha M. Masters remembers the cranial nerves with the mnemonic "On old Olympus's towering tops, a friendly Viking grew vines and hops" for olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, vestibulocochlear, glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory, and hypogossal.
Mnemonic at Wikipedia
Category:Medical terminology