The Case Protocol Card and the Ten-Minute Drill
The eight-move protocol drawn as a single taped card, rotated slightly, with a checkbox at the left of each numbered move, a step icon at the right of the moves that belong to a named step, and a dashed rule under move five splitting the card into "before you choose" and "as you choose."
The protocol card
☐ 1. Read the stem's exact condition first, and hold it as the filter. ☐ 2. Open the two tabs that serve the step being asked, not the tabs in order. ☐ 3. Sort every finding through deviation, trajectory, and consequence. ☐ 4. Cluster the survivors into groups with one physiologic explanation each. ☐ 5. Say the hypothesis sentence: condition, mechanism, confirming data point.
— before you choose / as you choose —
☐ 6. Name the runner-up hypothesis and say out loud why it loses. ☐ 7. Read the rule chip before selecting anything. ☐ 8. Say what must change in the client, and by when.
The ten-minute drill
- Two minutes on the record . . . . . . . . . . . . . read every tab once, mark nothing
- One minute writing the cue set . . . . . . . . . . the survivors only, in a list
- Two minutes on two hypotheses and the ranking . . . cues explained against cost of error
- One minute on the rule chip and answer shape . . . . how many responses does it want
- Three minutes answering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fill every cell under zero-one, defend every cell under plus-minus
- One minute checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . read the completed sentence back and ask if it stands as written
The six corrections, as imperatives
☐ crit Name a second hypothesis before acting on the first. ☐ crit Ask whether the admission diagnosis explains this finding; if not, treat it as new. ☐ watch Never evaluate a value without the value before it. ☐ crit Say the hypothesis sentence out loud first. ☐ watch Ask what should be there and is missing. ☐ crit State the client parameter that must change, and by when.
Cross-links
- Ranking by framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . → BOOK 03
- Every reference range and critical value . . . . . → BOOK 07
- Every calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . → BOOK 06
- Drug class reasoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . → BOOK 05
- Isolation decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . → BOOK 04
- The loop, introduced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . → BOOK 01 · P9
- The countdown and test-day protocol . . . . . . . → BOOK 16 · P3
- The one-page everything card for the whole exam . → BOOK 01 · P80
Margin noteeight moves. that's the whole book.
Run the protocol against the worked case on → BOOK 02 · P11 before you time yourself on an unseen one.
TakeawayThe entire book collapses into eight moves that fit on one card and run in ten minutes.