A breastfeeding mom asks for contraception at her two-week postpartum visit. A patient with gestational diabetes returns six weeks after delivery. A new mother on postpartum day six has a severe headache and blood pressure of 164/112.

These cases contain the common wrong answers that sound reasonable but can cost you points on the PANCE.

In Episode 175, we cover postpartum contraception and follow-up, including:

• The three requirements for the lactational amenorrhea method
• When progestin-only contraception can be started
• The day 21 rule for estrogen-containing contraception
• When breastfeeding changes the timing
• IUD placement after delivery
• RhoGAM, MMR, varicella, and Tdap before discharge
• Follow-up after gestational diabetes and why the 2-hour glucose tolerance test beats hemoglobin A1C
• Postpartum hypertension, preeclampsia, and magnesium sulfate
• Blood pressure medications compatible with breastfeeding
• Why the recommended interpregnancy interval is 18 months

The study strategy for this episode is simple: for every topic, identify the trap before you see the answer choices. Ask yourself, "What would sound reasonable but be wrong here?"

Visit physicianassistantexamreview.com/175 for the episode notes.

The December 33 Days cohort is coming soon. Join the waitlist at physicianassistantexamreview.com/33.

Think different. Work different. Score different.

Fifteen PANCE-style questions, mixed systems, the way the exam mixes them. Pause after each one, say your answer out loud, then check yourself. Keep count.

This is Rapid Rounds, a short set of practice questions between the regular episodes of the Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast. About 16 minutes.

What's in this one:

• A firefighter with a pulse ox of 99% who isn't fine
• The toddler who won't use the arm after being pulled up by the wrist
• Chest pain that gets better leaning forward
• Resistant hypertension with a potassium of 2.9
• Back pain, saddle anesthesia, and urinary retention
• A platelet count that drops by half on day 5 of heparin
• Blisters that shear off with a little pressure
• The worst headache of her life and a negative head CT
• Restlessness three days after starting risperidone
• A sodium of 125 on an SSRI
• Abdominal pain out of proportion to the exam in a patient with AFib
• Milky nipple discharge and a prolactin of 95
• A rusty nail in an unvaccinated patient
• Sudden painless vision loss with hemorrhages in all four quadrants
• A new apical murmur a few days after an inferior MI

Every question comes out of the new edition of The Final Step.

It's PA Week, and I'm giving away a seat in 33 Days, a Stop Guessing Session with me, and the new Final Step before anyone can buy it. Enter by Friday night: https://physicianassistantexamreview.com/giveaway

Full episode notes: https://physicianassistantexamreview.com/rapid-rounds-01/

Think different. Work different. Score different.

A white count of 20,000 the day after delivery. A temperature of 38 in the first 24 hours. Cramping every time she breastfeeds. Each one looks like trouble, and each one is normal. In this episode of the Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast, we cover the six weeks after delivery when nothing is going wrong, who shouldn't breastfeed, and how to tell engorgement from mastitis.

Five priming questions open the episode. Sit with them while you listen, then check yourself at the end.

What's covered:

• Uterine involution: where the fundus sits after delivery and how fast it comes down
• Afterpains, and why breastfeeding makes them worse
• Lochia: red to pink-brown to yellow-white, and the foul odor plus fever that means endometritis
• Postpartum diuresis and the hypercoagulable weeks after delivery
• The 24-hour line for fever, and the white count that's normal
• Pain control, perineal care, and early ambulation
• Prolactin vs oxytocin, colostrum, and vitamin D for the breastfed infant
• Sheehan syndrome: when the first sign is a mother who can't make milk
• Who shouldn't breastfeed, and the infections that don't stop it
• Engorgement vs mastitis vs breast abscess
• Why she keeps breastfeeding through mastitis

Study tip in this episode: win the day. Decide the minimum you're going to get done today, then get it done. Stack those days and you won't need to cram on the weekend.

It's PA Week, and I'm giving away a seat in 33 Days, a Stop Guessing Session with me, and The Final Step 3.0 before anyone can buy it. Enter by Friday: https://physicianassistantexamreview.com/giveaway

Full episode notes: https://physicianassistantexamreview.com/174

Think different. Work different. Score different.