Barry Schoenborn

Barry Schoenborn, a longtime math, science, and technical writer, is the coauthor of Technical Math For Dummies, Medical Dosage Calculations For Dummies, and Physician Assistant Exam For Dummies.

Articles & Books From Barry Schoenborn

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-28-2022
Using real-life math can simplify everyday situations. Math comes in handy every time you take a trip, go shopping, or do projects around the house.Estimating taxes and discounts when shoppingWhen you go shopping, you often encounter discounts and sales offers that change the price of an item. In addition, many states in the United States charge sales tax, and if you’re shopping abroad, you may face a value added tax.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-27-2022
Grasping some technical math basics can simplify everyday situations faced by many professionals and even non-professionals, including having to solve word problems, calculate tips, make change, or match American and metric measurements.Simple steps for solving word problemsWord problems aren’t just on school tests.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 01-20-2022
No matter what initials you have after your name (RN, CNA, PA, and so on), you can bet you’ll see math on a daily basis if you’re going into (or are already in) a career in the medical field.Grasping some medical math basics — such as how to break down medical dosage problems into steps and use conversion factors — can simplify everyday situations all health care professionals face.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-13-2022
When you're preparing to take the PANCE or PANRE, you may feel like you have to know an endless amount of information. How will you ever remember all the details of so many diseases and conditions? Here, you can review some useful mnemonics that will not only help your recall as you prepare for your physician assistant exam but also improve your clinical acumen.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
If you’ve ever had to match American and metric measurement units, you know direct comparisons of these unit systems can be tricky. If you need to know the metric equivalent of an inch, for example, or the American equivalent of a kilometer, use the following table to help you make a proper comparison between the two systems of measurement.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
The Physician Assistant exams will ask about low blood pressure, along with questions about high blood pressure. Hypotension has many causes, including infection, volume depletion, adrenal insufficiency, anemia, blood pressure medications, and so forth. Because of the depth of this topic, your focus for test purposes should be on the main causes of low blood pressure.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
As a healthcare professional, you have to convert patient weights, fluid volumes, medication weights, and more. Conversion math isn’t hard to do as long as you know the basic conversion factors. Here are the most useful ones: Converting lb to kg and kg to lb lb = kg × 2.2 kg = lb ÷ 2.2 Converting mL to L a
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
From rashes to eczema and bacterial infections to viral exanthems, these practice questions are similar to the dermatology questions on the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE). Example PANCE Questions Which one of the following can develop into squamous cell carcinoma over time? (A) Onychomycosis (B) Actinic keratosis (C) Seborrheic keratosis (D) Psoriasis (E) Impetigo You’re evaluating a 25-year-old woman who presents with a rash on her face.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
The pancreas is an important organ that has many functions in the body, both endocrine and exocrine and will be covered on the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE). Concerning endocrine function, the pancreas produces insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin (or it’s supposed to). Concerning exocrine function, the pancreas secretes digestive enzymes such as the proteases, lipase, and amylase.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Various conditions affect the ability of the eye to move as it should. For the Physician Assistant Exam, you will need to know about conditions such as strabismus and nystagmus. Point the eye in the right direction Strabismus is a disorder of the muscles of the eyes, preventing both eyes from focusing on the same object at the same time.