How to save a life with the HEENT exam: an interprofessional discussion
“Open your mouth and say ‘ah’.” It’s one of the most familiar refrains in all of medicine. But this deceptively simple instruction is actually part of one of the most complex and crucial diagnostic sequences that a physician can run. The HEENT exam (or Head, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat exam), when performed carefully, can reveal vast amounts of information about a patient’s current condition, allowing an observant healthcare provider to catch anything from an incipient stroke to a dangerous drug interaction. On November 21, Padmastuti Akella, MD and Mohamed Hassan, MD, two residents from nearby Saint Vincent Hospital, visited the Worcester campus to engage in an interprofessional learning session with the pharmacy faculty and students. “The goal here is for our students to learn exam techniques from the medical residents, and for the medical residents to learn about drug-induced toxicities of the eyes and ears from the pharmacy faculty and students,” said Karyn Sullivan, PharmD, MPH, RPh, Director of Interprofessional Education and Professor of Pharmacy Practice on the Worcester campus. Together with Linda Spooner, PharmD, RPh, BCPS, FASHP, FCCP, Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Sullivan co-facilitated the meeting, which was joined by Manchester pharmacy students via livestream.