FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!

Signs That Speak Volumes Trivia Quiz

Signs are things that we can see, and they can speak volumes about what might be wrong with a patient. Another quiz on patient assessment - this time on what you see, not what the patient tells you.

A multiple-choice quiz by ecnalubma. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
ecnalubma

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
281,838

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
2370

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. You are treating a patient with abdominal pain, and you notice that there is what appears to be a bruise around the umbilicus (belly button). What is the name of this sign? Hint

Beau's Line

Grey-Turner sign

Cullen's sign

Dance's sign

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. Your next call is to a patient with a severe headache, who is photophobic and very nauseous. Your initial thought is migraine, but to be thorough you ask the patient to put his chin on his chest. Oddly enough, when he does this, he brings his legs up too, although you didn't aske him to move his legs. What is this sign called? Hint

Brudzinski's sign

Cullen's sign

Kernig's sign

Chip sign

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. Something I do unconsciously in people I meet is look at the ear lobes. I don't like earrings, I do this for a reason. Some people have creases across their ear lobes because that is just normal for them. However, for some other people, it can indicate something else. What may an earlobe crease indicate? Hint

Decreased risk of coronary atherosclerosis

Increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis

Increased risk of diabetes mellitus

Decreased risk of diabetes mellitus

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. Patients who present with abdominal pain have a whole range of potential illnesses or injuries. I have taken a patient to the hospital with pain to the tip of the left shoulder as well as abdominal pain. The patient has no history of trauma to the shoulder, but they do have a history of trauma to the abdominal area. Which sign is involves shoulder tip pain in a patient with acute abdominal pain? Hint

Cullen's sign

Fakers sign - they can't possibly have both

Grey-Turner's sign

Kehr's sign

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. While I'm in the Emergency Department, I notice a doctor lifting the leg of a patient who is lying supine (supine means lying on your back), and the doctor is asking the patient if this action hurts. The patient states that this hurts a lot, even when their leg isn't being lifted very far. The doctor is only a junior doctor, so I volunteer to act as a comparison for him. When he lifts my legs up, it doesn't hurt at all. What sign did the patient with the pain exhibit? Hint

Lasegue's sign

Kernig's sign

Kehr's sign

McMurray's sign

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. Yet another patient with abdominal pain. There are no bruises that I can see, so I ask the patient if I can palpate (feel or press) his stomach. Since the patient is complaining of pain in the Right Upper Quadrant (RUQ), I check the other three areas first. When I am pressing his RUQ, I ask the patient to breathe in. He breathes in slowly and deeply, however he stops breathing in for a second because it hurts so much. What sign did this patient just display? Hint

Osler's sign

McMurray's sign

Murphy's sign

Nikolsky sign

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. The next patient I am called to has very obvious bruise rings around her eyes - in fact, she looks kind of like a certain animal. Which sign am I seeing in this patient? Hint

Moose sign

Raccoon sign

Beaver sign

Panda sign

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. The next patient is extremely cold. I've taken his temperature, and it is only 34 degrees Celsius. Irrespective of why or how the patient has become this cold, what cardiac disturbance should I be very concerned about and vigilant for? Hint

Atrial Fibrillation (AF)

Junctional Escape rhythms

Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs)

Ventricular Fibrillation (VF)

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. I've seen police officers ask a person to stand at attention (stiff and upright with the heels together) and get ask if they could close their eyes as a test for intoxication. If the person sways or falls over, this can be seen as a positive indication that the person tested is intoxicated. This too has a name. What is the name of this particular sign? Hint

Rope sign

Romberg's sign

Romana's sign

Rogoff's sign

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. Some people who visit the FunTrivia site may need to go and see a doctor about possible carpal tunnel syndrome (I may yet be one). As a test for this, the doctor may ask the patient to flex the wrists. You are considered to have tested positive if you displayed which sign if this act becomes painful in less than 1 minute? Hint

Tinel's sign

Phalen's sign

Patrick's sign

McMurray's sign

(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

Select a User ID:

Choose a Password:

Your Email:

Most Recent Scores

Dec 08 2024 : pusdoc: 8/10
Nov 22 2024 : calmdecember: 7/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. You are treating a patient with abdominal pain, and you notice that there is what appears to be a bruise around the umbilicus (belly button). What is the name of this sign?

Answer: Cullen's sign

Cullen's sign is bruising around the umbilicus. It represents free blood in the peritoneum. Causes of Cullen's sign include ruptured ectopic pregnancy and haemorrhagic pancreatitis.

Answer: Brudzinski's sign

I'm the kind of paramedic who looks for the worst while hoping for the best. Asking this patient to put his chin on his chest is one of the tests for meningitis. When present, Brudzinski's sign indicates that the patient may have meningitis, a cerebral abscess, or even a subarachnoid haemorrhage.

It happens because when flexing the head it puts traction of the inflamed meninges on the spinal nerves, which causes a protective flexor reflex of the legs.

Answer: Increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis

A diagonal crease across the earlobe has been statistically linked with an increased risk of both coronary and aortic atherosclerosis - plaque deposits that may become loose and cause the patient to have a heart attack. There is still some confusion as to why this is so, we just know that it happens.

Answer: Kehr's sign

Kehr's sign is indicative of a ruptured spleen. The spleen leaks blood into the abdominal cavity, and this irritates the diaphragm. The irritation of the diaphragm is relayed to the shoulder via the phrenic nerve.

Answer: Lasegue's sign

A positive Lasegue's sign (it is considered positive when there is pain) indicates that the patient has some form of musculoskeletal injury to the back. This may be something like a herniated disc.

You may see this sign referred to as Lazarevich-Laseague sign in some texts, as this was also described by a Serbian doctor at almost the same sign. Thank you to Dobrila who mentioned this to me.

You may notice that a lot of things in medicine are named after the doctor who first describes them - like Cullen's sign, Kehr's sign, and this one, Lazarevich-Laseague's sign. It has this name after the last names of both of the doctors who described it first.

Answer: Murphy's sign

Murphy's sign is a classic indicator of Cholecystitis. Cholecystitis is an inflamed gallbladder, usually caused by gallstones.
The pain is caused when the diaphragm moving down presses the inflamed gallbladder against my fingers. I can personally vouch for how much this hurts!

7. The next patient I am called to has very obvious bruise rings around her eyes - in fact, she looks kind of like a certain animal. Which sign am I seeing in this patient?

Answer: Raccoon sign

Raccoon sign, or Raccoon eyes, is indicative of a base of skull fracture. The same thing happens with Battles sign - blood from the fracture site (when bones break, they bleed too) tracks through the tissues and makes itself obvious in the form of bruises. Sometimes these patients don't show the fracture on the initial x-ray, so other scans are often done to find the broken bones.

Answer: Ventricular Fibrillation (VF)

Hypothermia is the correct term for when the core body temperature falls below 35 degrees Celsius. It is a medical emergency and the patient requires slow, steady rewarming. Causes of hypothermia include exposure, immersion, severe sepsis, severe trauma, overdose of barbiturates and Cerebro Vascular Accident (CVA), which is also known as a stroke.

Answer: Romberg's sign

A positive Romberg's sign can indicate things other than alcohol intoxication though. It may also be an indicator of a cord degeneration, or a posterior columnar lesion.

It's important to remember that some things that are considered out of the ordinary are in fact ordinary or normal for some people. Did you know that unequal pupils (aniscoria) is normal in approximately 20% of the population?

Answer: Phalen's sign

A positive Phalen's sign is one when tingling of pain occurs when the wrists are flexed, and it is considered an indicator of carpal tunnel syndrome. The quicker this happens (tingling or pain), the greater the patients need for surgery to correct this disorder.

Tinel's sign is also associated with carpal tunnel syndrome, however involves the doctor percussing (or tapping) the wrist.

Please remember that these are a guide only - fortunately we are not all the same, and what is normal for one person may not be for another. No signs should be considered in isolation, they should be taken into account along with patient history and the reason for the call in the first place.

Source: Author ecnalubma

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor crisw before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.