Internal Medicine

A boards-focused walkthrough of community-acquired pneumonia: the CXR-confirmed diagnosis, typical vs. atypical organism buzzwords, CURB-65 disposition, and the 2019 ATS/IDSA empiric antibiotic tiers — all anchored to the "next best step" the exam rewards.

A boards-focused, stepwise approach to hyponatremia — serum osmolality → volume status → urine osm/Na⁺ — anchored on SIADH, the euvolemic mimics, and the safe rate of correction. Emphasizes the exact \"next best step\" (workup vs. management) and the osmotic demyelination guardrails STEP 2 CK loves to test.

A board-style approach to chest pain that rules out the six immediate killers first — anchored on the 10-minute ECG — then drills the buzzword-to-next-step decisions for ACS, aortic dissection, PE, cardiac tamponade, and their common mimics.

A board-focused framework for dyspnea that sorts patients into cardiac, pulmonary, and other causes and drives the next-best-step from vitals, ECG, CXR, BNP, D-dimer, and troponin. It anchors on classic vignette clues (orthopnea/PND, sudden pleuritic pain, Kussmaul breathing) and on when to stabilize before imaging.

A board-focused framework for acute abdominal pain: characterize the pain, stabilize unstable or peritonitic patients and check a β-hCG first, then let location drive the top diagnosis, best initial test, and management across the classic acute-abdomen emergencies.

A board-focused framework for syncope: separate benign reflex and orthostatic causes from life-threatening cardiac syncope using history, exam, orthostatic vitals, and a mandatory 12-lead ECG, then apply next-best-step diagnosis and disposition rules.

A board-style algorithmic walkthrough of the anemia workup built on two axes — MCV (cell size) and reticulocyte count (marrow response) — with iron-study interpretation, the microcytic and megaloblastic differentials, hemolysis labs, and the classic \"next best step\" decisions Step 2 CK tests.

A board-focused walkthrough of frailty as a syndrome of lost physiologic reserve — the Fried phenotype, the 5 Ms, and the geriatric giants (falls, delirium, polypharmacy) — with next-best-step deprescribing and function-focused management for Step 2 CK.