Study guide · 6 units · 25 things to learn
Neuro study guide for nursing students
The anatomy behind the neuro assessments and conditions nursing students meet in class and on the NCLEX: why a stroke on one side causes the signs it does, what the cranial nerves test, and where the vital centers are.
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Work through the units in order. Read each topic, open each part in 3D, then take the unit's quiz: everything you answer comes back in your daily review, right before you would forget it. Ticks show what you have done on this device.
1. Neuro basics
Quiz this unit in 3DHow the nervous system is organized, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, and the neurotransmitters that many neuro and psychiatric drugs act on.
- The nervous systemTopic · Central and peripheral, somatic and autonomic: how it is organized.
- The autonomic nervous system: sympathetic and parasympatheticTopic · Fight or flight, rest and digest: how the body runs its automatic jobs.
- NeurotransmittersTopic · The brain's chemical messengers: dopamine, serotonin, GABA and more.
2. Brain regions in a neuro assessment
Quiz this unit in 3DWhat each lobe, the brainstem and the cerebellum control, and the pathways for movement and sensation, so the signs you assess make sense.
- Lobes of the brainTopic · The four lobes of each hemisphere, and what each one does.
- BrainstemBrain part · The stalk connecting brain and body, running breathing, heartbeat and wakefulness.
- Medulla oblongataBrain part · Your life-support center: breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure and swallowing on autopilot.
- CerebellumBrain part · The "little brain" that holds most of your neurons and makes every move smooth.
- How the brain controls movement: upper and lower motor neuronsTopic · From motor cortex to muscle, and how to tell upper from lower motor neuron damage.
- Touch, pain and temperature: the sensory pathwaysTopic · How touch, pain and temperature travel up the spinal cord to the sensory strip.
3. Cranial nerves
Quiz this unit in 3DThe twelve cranial nerves, and the ones most often checked at the bedside: pupils, eye movements, face, swallowing and tongue.
- Cranial nervesBrain part · Twelve pairs of nerves wired straight from the brain to your eyes, face, throat, and gut.
- Optic nerve (II)Brain part · The cable from each eye to the brain, and really a piece of brain grown out to the eye.
- Oculomotor nerve (III)Brain part · The main eye mover: it aims your eye, lifts your eyelid, and shrinks your pupil.
- Facial nerve (VII)Brain part · The nerve behind every smile, frown, and wink, and it carries taste from your tongue.
- Vagus nerve (X)Brain part · The "wandering" nerve that runs from your brainstem to your heart, lungs, and gut.
- Hypoglossal nerve (XII)Brain part · The tongue's movement nerve, for talking, chewing, swallowing, and sticking it out.
4. Stroke
Quiz this unit in 3DThe arteries that feed the brain, the signs a stroke in each territory causes, BE FAST, and the aphasias a stroke can cause.
- Blood supply of the brainTopic · The arteries that feed each area, and what a stroke in each one does.
- Stroke and injury casesPractice in 3D · Read what happened to a patient, then find the damage on the 3D brain.
- Language and the brainTopic · Broca's and Wernicke's areas, reading and signing, and the types of aphasia.
5. Cerebrospinal fluid and the ventricles
Quiz this unit in 3DWhere cerebrospinal fluid is made and how it flows, which explains hydrocephalus and pressure inside the skull, and the meninges, where bleeds and infections happen.
- Cerebrospinal fluid, the ventricles and the meningesTopic · How the brain's fluid is made and flows, and the layers that wrap it.
- Ventricular systemBrain part · A hidden network of fluid-filled chambers that cushions and cleans the brain.
- Choroid plexusBrain part · The brain's fluid factory: frilly tissue that makes cerebrospinal fluid.
- Fourth ventricleBrain part · A tent-shaped chamber between brainstem and cerebellum where fluid flows out.
6. Movement disorders and memory
Quiz this unit in 3DThe circuits behind Parkinson's disease, and the memory system that dementia affects first.
Tips for studying
- Brain damage shows up on the opposite side of the body for movement and touch: a left-sided stroke weakens the right arm and leg.
- For each cranial nerve, know one bedside test: shining a light in the pupils checks the optic and oculomotor nerves.
- This guide teaches anatomy for learning only. Always follow your program, your clinical instructors and current clinical guidelines.
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