SMALL GROUP SESSION 22
March 2nd or March 4th
Neurological Examination Workshop & Case Discussion
Suggested Readings:
Review the neurologic exam
at:http://medicine.ucsd.edu/clinicalmed/neuro2.htm
Complete the neurologic exam web module on the POM web-site
before your small group session.
http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/courses/pom1/videos/index.cfm
Prepare by:
Bringing your tuning fork, reflex hammer, cotton swabs or other
device to test sensation, and penlight.
Bringing neuroscience and neuroanatomy notes or book.
Mentors:
Tongue blades and cotton swabs will be provided by the POM1 office. Please bring any other instruments you may need.
Brief outline:
Information about end of year student presentations
Section 1: Touch base (30 minutes)
Section 2: Clinical case discussion (60 minutes)
Section 3: Neurologic Examination Workshop (80 minutes)
Section 4: Wrap-up and Evaluate Session (10 minutes)
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End of year student presentations
At the end of the year, during session 27, each student will give a research presentation which
will be part of your final POM-1 evaluation. The presentation will be a focused talk on some
aspect of advanced interviewing and humanism – specifically, physician-patient relationships
and/or communication. Examples include:
 patient-centered interviewing (evidence/ clinical application, etc)
 motivating behavior change
 complementary and alternative medicine
 cultural competency
 chronic illness
 narratives in medicine
 death and dying
 palliative care
 sexuality
 spirituality
 substance abuse
 medical ethics
Your presentation should last approximately twenty minutes. It can be an oral presentation;
you need not use power point slides.
Your presentation should also:
 include specific objectives
 be clear and organized
 include a handout (1 - 2 pages) with a few references
Mentors: Please discuss this with your students. They are expected to choose their
topic and let you know over the next two weeks. There will be another reminder in
Session 25.
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Objectives for Session 22
By the end of this session, students will able to:
 Describe clinical features consistent with a stroke
 Correlate specific neurologic symptoms and signs with areas of abnormality in the
central nervous system (CNS)
 Discuss differential diagnosis of a set of neurologic symptoms and signs
 Practice the techniques of the screening neurologic examination, including:
 mental status
 cranial nerves II through XII
 sensation
 strength (done already in extremity exam)
 deep tendon reflexes
 coordination
Section 1: Touch base (30 minutes)
Welcome back!
How were your exams? Was spring break was enjoyable?
Section 2: Case: A patient with weakness (60 minutes)
A PATIENT WITH WEAKNESS:
It is Sunday morning, and the emergency room has just called you in to meet Mr. Hal Brown.
His wife, who is with him, says she called the ambulance because he awoke this morning
unable to move his left side.
Mr. Brown is 55 years old. He last saw a doctor fourteen years ago, when he went to the
emergency room for a broken arm. His wife recalls that they advised him to see a doctor then
for his pressure, but he didn’t go. He felt well until this morning and even now tells you that he
is fine and his wife is getting upset over nothing. He reports no headache.
He has never had surgery, has no known illnesses and takes no medications. He works as an
accountant. He smokes one pack per day for 37 years and drinks two to three beers every
night.
As you obtain the history from him and (mostly) his wife, you can easily see that all is not well.
He is lying on the examining table making no spontaneous movements of his left arm or leg.
His left face is sagging. He understands you and speaks appropriately, but his speech is very
slurred - another new finding, his wife reports.
You look down at the nurse’s note of his vital signs: temperature 37 degrees, pulse 80,
respirations 20, blood pressure 240/140.
1. What might be causing his symptoms? What additional history would help you narrow
down your diagnosis?
2. What do you think of his blood pressure? What could explain it?
3. In what way could his blood pressure be related to his current symptoms?
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4. Why might he be saying that nothing is the matter?
5. What physical examination do you want to do?
Do not go on until you have finished discussing this page.
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On examination, you find the following:
BP 230/140, pulse 76, respirations 16.
Mental status: he is alert and answers your questions about the date, but you can’t make out
what he is saying.
Cranial nerves: II: He can’t see your fingers in his left visual field. When you cover his left eye,
his right eye cannot see in the left portion of its visual field; when you cover his right eye, his
left eye can see, but only in the right portion of its visual field.
VII: his left face is sagging, with saliva running from the left side of his mouth. A smile pulls his
mouth to the right. When he raises his eyebrows, though, both eyebrows rise equally.
XII: His tongue protrudes to his left.
Strength: full (5/5) strength of right arm and leg. No movement of the left arm or leg (0/5);
when you lift them, they drop like dead weight.
Sensation: He feels nothing to touch or pinprick in his entire left face, arm and leg.
Reflexes: He can’t sit up to test his reflexes properly, but those on the right seem normal to
you (2+), while those on the left seem more brisk (3+). His plantar (Babinski) reflex is
downgoing on the right and upgoing on the left.
Coordination: normal to finger to nose, heel to shin and rapid alternating movements on the
right. He can’t move to test his left side and cannot stand or walk.
6. What is the significance of each of his abnormal physical findings?
7. Can you localize the area of his nervous system affected? Does this help you to narrow
down your diagnosis?
After your examination, his wife asks to talk with you in private. She states the patient has a
‘do not resuscitate’ (DNR) form which he signed several years ago, but she would like to
request that he be fully resuscitated if needed. The patient does not seem to be able to
communicate well presently.
8. How would you handle this situation?
Section 3: Neurologic Examination Technique (80 minutes)
Caveat: What you will practice today is a screening neurologic exam, not a complete
neurologic examination. If any of this were abnormal, you would use the additional
techniques in your text - and quite likely others
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Use the OSCE: Neurological examination checklist
PART 1: MENTAL STATUS
Ask at least the basic orientation questions: place (city, county, building, and floor) and time
(month, day, and year). Then, ask some of the other questions. For example:
 name three items; ask the person to remember them and say them back
(registration)
 then: ask them to subtract 7 from 100, 7 from that answer, etc., down to 51
(calculation)
 ask them to spell “world” backwards (language)
 ask them to recall the three items (recall).
You will have received a copy of the mini-mental status examination by now in your lectures.
Feel free to use other questions from the mini-mental status exam instead.
PART 2: CRANIAL NERVES
CN II: the optic nerve
1. Pupils: test pupil response to light and accommodation (done as part of the eye exam):
Light: shine penlight into one eye, bringing it in from lateral to the patient’s eye.
Check for equal constriction of same (direct) and other (consensual) pupil. Do not let
patient look directly at the light.
Accommodation: Stand where you can see both of the patient’s pupils, and hold
your finger 2 to 4 inches from the patient’s nose. Ask the patient to look far away
(e.g. at the wall), then immediately at your finger. Watch pupil reaction.
2. Visual fields: test all four quadrants with wiggling fingers. Move your fingers in from
arm’s length away while patient looks at your nose. Ask patient to tell you when s/he
sees your fingers move. Patient should see them at the same time you do
(confrontation test).
CN III, IV and VI: the oculomotor, trochlear and abducens nerves
Test this with extraocular movements (part of the eye exam). Ask patient to follow your finger
with his/her eyes. Move your finger in all six directions that muscles move the eye:




laterally to each side: (the lateral rectus, CN VI, moves each eye laterally)
down and to the patient’s right (the superior oblique, CN IV moves the patient’s left
eye this way - medially and down)
down and to the patient’s left (the right superior oblique/ CN IV)
up and to the patient’s left and right. CN III, the oculomotor nerve, innervates the
other four muscles, which move each eye medially (medial rectus), up and medially
(inferior oblique), up and laterally (superior rectus) and down and laterally (inferior
rectus).
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CN V: The trigeminal nerve
1. Masseter strength: Ask patient to clench his/her jaw. Palpate the jaw muscles
(masseters).
2. Facial sensation: Test facial sensation to light touch and sharp sensation (e.g.
sterile needle or broken-off end of wooden sterile cotton swab) on the forehead,
cheeks and chin bilaterally
CN VII: The facial nerve
Ask patient to squeeze his/her eyes shut, wrinkle his/her forehead, frown, whistle, grimace.
Look for differences between the two sides of the face.
CN VIII: The acoustic nerve
Hold your fingers 3 feet from patient’s ear and rub them together; move them slowly toward
the patient. Ask patient to tell you when s/he hears finger rubbing.
OR
Hold one of patient’s ears shut while whispering very softly in the other ear; ask patient what
you said.
CN IX and X: Glossopharyngeal and Vagus
Press the tongue blade firmly on the posterior third of the patient’s tongue to elicit the gag
reflex. The uvula should move symmetrically up.
CN XI: The spinal accessory nerve
Place your hand on the patient’s lower face (from chin to ear). Ask patient to push his/her
head sideways against your hand (sternocleidomastoid muscle). Do this on both sides.
OR
Place both hands on the patient’s shoulders and ask patient to shrug (trapezius muscle).
CN XII: The hypoglossal nerve
Ask patient to stick his/her tongue out and move it from side to side.
PART 3: SENSATION
Ask patient to close his/ her eyes for the sensory examination. For each, check on both arms/
hands and both feet/legs, alternating sides.
1. Sharp and dull: Test sharp with a sterile needle or broken-off end of a sterile cotton swab
stick. Test dull sensation with a cotton swab or similar soft item. Alternate sharp and dull
sensation, asking patient to identify whether it is sharp or dull when you touch him/her.
Compare both forearms and hands and both calves, ankles and feet.
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2. Position: Hold finger on each side and move up and down; ask patient to identify when
you are moving it up or down. Do this for one finger on each side. Do this also for each
great toe.
3. Vibration: Patient can open eyes for this. Place a vibrating tuning fork on patient’s finger;
ask patient if s/he can feel vibration; if so, ask when it goes away. Compare fingers on both
sides and toes on both sides (OR compare wrists on both sides and ankles on both sides).
PART 4: STRENGTH
You already tested strength while examining the upper and lower extremities. No need to
repeat here.
PART 5: DEEP TENDON REFLEXES
In most cases, tap with the pointed end of the reflex hammer. The flat end may work better for
some reflexes (e.g. the brachioradialis). Use a light tap, letting the weight of the rubber
hammer do the work. Test on each side, comparing the two sides:
 the biceps: where the tendon crosses the front of the elbow
 the triceps: proximal to the elbow on the extensor side. For this, hold the patient’s
arm straight out from the body and have him/her drop the arm’s weight entirely on
you – or have patient’s elbow flexed and forearm resting on patient’s leg or your
arm.
 the brachioradialis: tap on the radius, a few centimeters proximal to the wrist, while
the patient sits with elbow bent, forearm resting and radius/ thumb up.
 the patellar: tap on the tendon just below the patella, with the patient sitting.
 the Achilles: tap on the Achilles tendon several centimeters above its attachment to
the calcaneus
 the Babinski (plantar) reflex: Use the pointed metal end of your reflex hammer.
Stroke firmly on the sole of the foot, starting from the lateral heel, up to the lateral
ball of foot and curving to the medial ball of foot.
PART 6: COORDINATION
1. Finger to nose: have patient touch your index finger and his/her nose alternately with
his/her index finger, going back and forth quickly several times as you move your finger. Do
with each of patient’s hands.
2. Fine motor: Ask patient to touch thumb of one hand rapidly to each finger of that hand and
repeat. Do with both hands.
3. Heel to shin: Ask patient to run the heel of one foot up and down the shin of the other leg.
Repeat with the other foot.
4. Tandem gait: Ask patient to walk in a straight line heel-to-toe (“the drunk test”).
5. Romberg: Ask patient to stand with feet touching each other, arms stretched straight
forward but not touching, palms up. Ask patient to close his/her eyes and stay there
6. Gait: Ask patient to walk several strides, turn around and come back to you.
If time allows, practice other OSCE’s
Section 5: Evaluation and wrap-up. (10 minutes)
How did this session go?
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Neurological
A = Attempted Satisfactory B = Attempted Below Satisfactory
Procedure
A B C
C = Did Not Attempt
Comments
1. MENTAL STATUS: The ex should ask Pt questions pertaining to his/her
orientation (person, place, time, situation). Ex should ask a minimum of 3
questions.
(NOTE: EYE/ CNs II, III, IV and VI ARE ASSESSED IN HNE SECTION)
2– 7. CRANIAL NERVES:
2. V – Trigeminal. Ex should ask to clench Pt’s teeth while he/she palpates the
muscles of Pt’s jaw. Ex should ask Pt to close his/her eyes and identify bilateral
facial touch as soft or sharp.
3. VII – Facial. The ex should examine Pt’s facial muscles while asking him/her
to squeeze eyes shut, raise eyebrows, wrinkle forehead, frown, whistle, etc. At
least one of the above expressions must be requested.
4. VIII – Acoustic. Ex should ask Pt to tell him/her when Pt begins to hear the
ticking of Ex’s watch or rubbing of fingers. The Ex will begin with watch or
fingers approx 3 feet from the side of Pt’s head and will move in closer until
identified. Ex may ask Pt to distinguish whisper in each ear. Either technique is
fine.
4. IX and X – Glossopharyngeal. The Ex should press down on or near the
posterior wall of the throat with a tongue depressor to elicit the gag reflex.
6. XI – Spinal Accessory. The Ex should ask Pt to push his/her head against Ex’s
hand in a side-ways fashion OR ask Pt to shrug shoulders up against Ex’s hands.
7. XII – Hypoglossal. Ex should ask Pt to stick his/her tongue out of the mouth and
move it from side to side.
8 – 9. SENSORY FUNCTIONS: The Ex should test sensory functions by
touching Pt bilaterally with alternating soft and sharp OR warm and cold objects.
8. Arms/hands – forearms and hands
9. Legs/feet – calves, ankles, feet
10. POSITION SENSE: The Ex should hold either side or the tip of Pt’s finger
with his/her two fingers. Ex should then move the finger up or down and ask Pt to
say which way it is being moved. REPEAT with the big toe.
11. VIBRATION SENSE: The Ex should place a vibrating tuning fork against the
bony prominence of Pt’s WRIST AND ANKLE OR FINGER AND TOE and ask
Pt to state when the vibration stops.
(NOTE: STRENGTH IS ASSESSED IN THE EXTREMITIES SECTION)
12. REFLEX TECHNIQUE: The movement of the hammer should be a rapid
downward snap of the wrist. The hammer should not be held too firmly.
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13 – 18. REFLEXES: Each of the following reflexes should be tested bilaterally:
13. Biceps
14. Triceps
15. Brachioradial
16. Patellar
17. Achilles Tendon
18. Plantar (Babinski)
19. MOTOR FUNCTIONS / COORDINATION OF UPPER EXTREMITIES: The
Ex should ask Pt to touch Ex’s index finger and Pt’s nose. The Ex should place
his/her index finger 18 inches from Pt while changing the location of his/her finger
several times. This procedure should be repeated with the Pt’s other hand.
AND / OR
The Ex should ask Pt to rapidly and repeatedly touch his/her thumb with each
finger on the same hand. Repeat with the Pt’s other hand.
20. MOTOR FUNCTIONS / COORDINATION OF LOWER EXTREMITIES:
The Ex should ask Pt to run the heel of one foot up and down the shin of the
opposite leg. Repeat with opposite leg.
AND / OR
The Ex should ask Pt to walk a straight line in a heel-to-toe fashion.
21. ROMBERG SIGN: Ex should observe Pt stand with his/her arms stretched
out in front or beside him/her with eyes closed.
22. GAIT: The Ex should observe Pt walk, turn, and return.
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