Lesson 1Mental status and language assessment: orientation, attention, naming, repetition, comprehension tests for aphasia detectionFocuses on quick bedside check of awareness, direction sense, focus, memory, and language parts, including naming, repeating, fluency, and understanding, to spot aphasia, confusion states, and small thinking problems.
Level of consciousness and arousalOrientation and short‑term memoryAttention and working memory testsNaming, repetition, and fluencyComprehension and command followingLesson 2Special bedside tests: brief seizure mimic assessments (postictal confusion, tongue biting, incontinence), TIA mimics, and orthostatic vital signsReviews targeted bedside actions to spot seizure and TIA look-alikes, including after-seizure confusion, tongue bites, loss of bladder control, mind-based features, and standing blood pressure checks, helping separate real vascular events from others.
Postictal confusion and recovery profileTongue biting and incontinence cluesFeatures suggesting psychogenic eventsScreening for common TIA mimicsOrthostatic blood pressure and pulseLesson 3Sensory exam: pinprick/light touch, proprioception, cortical sensory signs, and sensory extinction/neglect testingCovers bedside tests of basic and cortical feeling senses, including pinprick, light touch, vibration, position sense, writing recognition, and ignoring, stressing patterns that separate outer, spine, brainstem, and cortical lesions.
Pinprick and light touch techniqueVibration and joint position senseTesting graphesthesia and stereognosisDetecting extinction and neglectPatterns of sensory level and hemibody lossLesson 4Cranial nerve exam targeted to this presentation: facial symmetry, dysarthria vs aphasia, gaze, visual fields (confrontation), and pupillary assessmentDetails a focused cranial nerve check for suspected stroke, including face evenness, slurred speech versus language loss, eye moves, sight areas by facing, and pupil checks, stressing quick methods and key pinpointing patterns.
Rapid facial symmetry assessmentDistinguishing dysarthria from aphasiaBedside gaze and eye movement testingConfrontation visual field techniquesPupillary size, reactivity, and anisocoriaLesson 5How to record focused exam findings clearly and translate into localization statementsExplains how to sort targeted neurological findings, use standard words, and turn raw notes into short pinpointing statements that guide diagnosis lists, scan choices, and urgent care decisions.
Standard neurologic note structureKey normal and abnormal exam phrasesLinking signs to lesion localizationWriting one‑line localization summariesLesson 6Gait and balance assessment: timed gait, tandem walk, and assessment for fall risk or intermittent collapseProvides a planned way to check walking and balance, including timed steps, side-by-side walk, Romberg test, and watching for freezing, unsteadiness, or falling, to guess fall danger and pinpoint cerebellum, feeling, or front brain walk issues.
Observation of stance and initiationTimed gait and turning assessmentTandem walk and Romberg testingIdentifying ataxic and frontal gaitsScreening for intermittent collapseLesson 7Motor exam: tone, power grading, focal weakness patterns, pronator drift, and rapid bedside tests for subtle hemiparesisOutlines a targeted motor exam stressing muscle tone, strength grading, pronator drift, quick power screens, and small unevenness, with patterns that separate upper from lower motor neuron weakness and mind-based disorders.
Assessing bulk and involuntary movementsGrading power using MRC scaleEvaluating tone and spastic catchPronator drift and orbiting testsRapid screening for subtle hemiparesisLesson 8Coordination and cerebellar testing: finger-nose, heel-shin, dysdiadochokinesia and interpretation in focal cortical vs cerebellar causesDescribes bedside coordination tests with finger-nose-finger, heel-knee-shin, quick side changes, and rebound, and explains how to separate cerebellum, feeling, and cortical causes of limb unsteadiness.
Finger‑nose‑finger performance errorsHeel‑knee‑shin and truncal ataxiaRapid alternating movement testingRebound and overshoot phenomenaDifferentiating sensory from cerebellar ataxia
