Recently I had occasion to browse YouTube using a smart TV. The app for YouTube browsing turns out to be a cut down of the version available via a web browser. For a start the shuffle function does not exist, the ability to skip adverts does not crop up and it took some searching to find the Procrastination Pen channel at all.
However, I am pleased to report that despite all that, the playlist still stands up pretty well even when forced to play each video in order. Some of those early videos have become like old friends now.
It also gave me the chance to identify the odd one that is ripe for weeding and push it over into the archive list – by this mechanism does the main Procrastination Pen playlist keep being refined and improved.
Today’s video is this one:
Head-to-Toe Assessment NR 304
Comments are permitted and we can see that ASMR fans have already been here and done that. NR304 turns out to be a nursing exam. The online references to it appear to come from Chamberlain University College of Nursing but that is not to say it is the only university to offer it.
The video is twelve and three quarter minutes long so a good average length for a medical examination video. And this seems to be again another video produced by students as part of their course. (we have a great deal of experience of this now and the results can be somewhat variable).
There is some background noise. There are conversations happening nearby both are quite distracting.
The medical professional is “Nadia”. She has a great voice which is somewhat overshadowed by the other conversations just off camera.
The “patient” is Jackie Santiago (almost certainly misspelled) with DoB 6/9/97. However, thereby is a trap for the unwary, this is the US dating system so almost certainly 09/06/1997, so June therefore.
Each of the participants has a tunic with a crest on it which is just a little too fuzzy for me to make out the name of the institution.
However, the Chamberlain University College of Nursing has a very similar logo.
So it could be that this is the location.
Chamberlain appears to be in Addison Illinois and unsurprisingly it has its own YouTube channel.
This is filled with the kind of promotional videos we have come to expect from such channels.
The channel is Nadia Hussain. This has just one video posted there years ago at the time I am looking at it, yet despite this there are four hundred and two subscribers. This is quite amazing and possibly speaks to the ASMR-y nature of this video.
I would completely be in accordance with that if the extraneous noises were not punctuating this video. It is also a shame, given the nature of her voice, that Nadia did not post any further videos.
In the brief intervals where no conversations from elsewhere are overheard this is a very good video. It even lacks oppressive air conditioning noises (which is very rare as we know).
Sadly, there is no more from Nadia, she does not seem to have any other channel, so presumably she went on to make good her career and never looked back. Good luck Nadia, but very sad for us.
So until next time then.
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
I am continually reminded that there is nothing new under the sun. I spend so much time on YouTube now that I sometimes inadvertently happen upon something which I was not really searching for. Recently I discovered that the Procrastination Pen is not the only channel trying to put together a playlist connected with sleep. (On reflection I suspect that there are many of these).
I found that the channel Zbizzle has a playlist just entitled “Sleep”. At the time of looking, it has twenty-eight videos and four thousand two hundred and thirty views so none too shabby. I am listing it because you may be interested in checking it out.
The videos seem to be compiled from professional ASMR channels and so quite different to the approach that I have been taking. It might form an interesting contrast to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Sadly, Zbizzle has not included any details about themselves in their channel (other than that they joined in 2012 – so somewhat before the Procrastination Pen).
I have not reviewed the sleep playlist myself; I’ve been a bit busy reviewing my own list. I can’t either recommend or criticise, I simply offer it up in case you haven’t found it yourself and you fancy giving it a try.
Back to the Procrastination Pen and the video being appraised today, this being:
Hannah’s Head to Toe assessment
At just less than forty-two minutes this one is a real thoroughgoing test. Recently we have been used to videos quite a bit shorter than that.
The title immediately strikes me as possibly being to do with a student assessment video which we have seen a number of in the past.
The focus looks a bit off, the distance of the subjects as if they are at the end of a long tunnel, both participants reasonably young in appearance.
The patient is introduced as “Miss Strickland” but the channel is “David Strickland” – there is no indication as to how that is the case. A possible gender change individual perhaps?
The background noise is not too oppressive thankfully, there is no introductory music for which may the Lord make us truly thankful. The medical professional does not introduce herself but jumping ahead the second video on this channel may iron that one out – of which more later.
There are no notes associated with the video which does indicate a non-professional video as we have noted. Professional videos tend to have notes associated with them.
There are comments, and as usual the comments are unhelpful. (I’ve formed the view that denying comments is probably a wise move with videos on YouTube).
There are no ASMR-related comments which may mean this is a find or it is a terrible video.
The sound is somewhat muted, which we have heard before and might be connected with the quality of microphone employed.
The delivery is as we have grown used to; the individual is assessed and so has to rattle off a certain amount of terminology in order to get a grade. (I surmise this in that most of the videos produced apparently as part of a course all seem to progress in the same way).
Videos of this type always seem to involve the “medical professional” consulting with some kind of mental checklist in a fairly rigid manner, up to the laughable “privacy” provision sections, where the poor student draws an invisible (i.e. non-existent) curtain.
The delivery is slightly loud and a little hesitant. It is obvious that the “medical professional“ keeps forgetting where they are supposed to be in the examination.
Regular readers will now be thoroughly familiar with cranial nerve tests now of course including some that are delivered by professionals.
The medical professional keeps pausing delivery, presumably in an effort to remember exactly what it is that is supposed to come next. Towards the end she actively consults her notes. But of course, for the purpose which we wish to put this to, which is to lie there and to listen, this need not be too distracting.
I love the way that she pronounces “Lazy eye”, a very different way to enunciate those two words to what I am used to.
The channel is David Strickland, perhaps a relative of Hannah Strickland who we saw as the patient in that first video.
The second video features the same participants but in a reversal of the roles:
Danielle’s Head to Toe Assessment
The key is that the medical professional of the former video was Danielle and in this one Danielle is actually the patient. There remain no clues as to where this actual medical establishment is.
The comments remain unhelpful and there are still no notes. The focus remains on the fuzzy side and the background noise is still muted. This one comes in at a little under thirty-eight and a half minutes.
Hannah starts off a little loud. The introductions are somewhat brief and definitely not enough to give much information about course, institution, more details of the participants and other information that I often use to determine that the video is a legitimate one and not from an ASMR professional. (From the appearance of it, I somewhat doubt it is the latter).
Given the paucity of the number of videos and the complete absence of playlists, two hundred and twenty-two subscribers is a really good result. One certainly gets the idea that the video was never intended to be out there in the greater public and, given both videos are both posted in 2014, any related course is long gone by now.
Part way through Hannah’s voice is completely masked by a background noise sounding like the microphone has been placed in a wind tunnel. Almost as if someone was hoovering it with a 1950s vacuum which had not received regular maintenance in the last seventy years. That is really quite distracting.
As before, the presentation is hesitant with some wrong steps being taken and some parts forgotten and returned to later.
There are obvious pauses as elements are recalled. Like the first video of this article in fact.
We discover that Danielle was born April 6th 1994 but the location is given merely as “nursing lab” which doesn’t help much in tracking down the institution – oh for an identifying badge or similar.
The David Strickland playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening experience to log on, this interrupts the listening experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
If you’ve been reading the Procrastination Pen for a while you will have come across the theory that people have a much more gentle and quiet approach to examinations when dealing with small people.
What could be better to test if this is consistent or just an occasional occurrence than to occasionally feature an examination with a small person and to observe whether such videos are better in terms of volume and method.
Universities have so far been pretty good for videos but they are also often a huge source of self-promotional material involving MGM style soundtracks and Saachi and Saachi motivational messages. There is, therefore, a mass of material to look at and quite a lot of it is unsuitable for us.
The University of Leicester though, in common with Warwick University, who we saw before, has a number of teaching videos and some of those are very good. Today’s video is sadly very brief at just shy of five minutes in duration.
Paediatric Clinical Examinations – The Abdomen
It includes comments and as expected a number of the comments are not helpful. Reading between the lines though, I think ASMR fans are here well before I am. This is something that we have come to expect now.
It is a professional video and so of course it has notes associated with it:
“30 Jul 2014
This is a real-time demonstration illustrating the technique and parent and child interaction involved in the examination of the abdominal system of a child.
The film was produced by a paediatrician to aid the teaching of clinical examination skills. It starts where the history has been taken, and the clinical examination is about to commence.
Written and presented by Dr Elaine Carter, Emeritus Consultant Paediatrician, MA, MB ChB, MRCP, FRCPCH, MMedSci.
This film was produced by External Relations, University of Leicester.
Filmed & Edited by Carl Vivian
Written & Produced by Elaine Carter”
There is no – I mean zero – music at the start of the video – Warwick take note. This is such a welcome difference.
We are introduced to mum Sophie and her son Alex, who, it has to be said, looks suitably anxious. There is limited background noise; no obvious air conditioning noises for example.
The presentation is lovely and gentle. So far, the theory about small people is vindicated yet again.
I never expected a child to be this calm when having his abdomen probed in such a deep manner. Perhaps the presentation is just a little loud but that is a minor criticism and is only possible because other aspects of the video are so right.
Interestingly, I found the video is now in the Internet Archive the first time I have ever found that to be the case.
This channel is simply huge, 1.3K videos at the date I am looking at it. Eighty-seven playlists and few of these are anything that we could use.
However searching the Internet Archive, discovered earlier, we find that Elaine is also involved in another video of a similar type.
This video, as luck would have it, is also present on YouTube:
Paediatric Clinical Examinations – The Respiratory System
This one seems to have been filmed before the previous one in that this is the first time we are introduced to Alex.
Again, there are notes: “30 Jul 2014
This is a real-time demonstration illustrating the technique and parent and child interaction involved in the examination of the respiratory system of a child.
The film was produced by a paediatrician to aid the teaching of clinical examination skills. It starts where the history has been taken, and the clinical examination is about to commence.
Written and presented by Dr Elaine Carter, Emeritus Consultant Paediatrician, MA, MB ChB, MRCP, FRCPCH, MMedSci.
This film was produced by External Relations, University of Leicester.
Filmed & Edited by Carl Vivian
Written & produced by Elaine Carter”
As before there is no startup music. If it wasn’t the fact that there would be so little material to work with, I would only select videos that lacked startup music (and tail end music as well for that).
We are also introduced to Ellie, Alex’s sister, Alex looks suitably bored, possibly because his sister is the focus of attention in this video.
It is another brief one at just less than six- and three-quarter minutes.
The presentation style here, if anything, is quieter than with the previous video. Ellie seems calm, even happy at intervals.
The comments are variable as always but again reading between the lines this is also already known to the ASMR community.
That’s it for this time.
The University of Leicester playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.
I think I can conclude, after quite a few ASMR articles, that nursing is an absolute gift to the ASMR community. There are nursing students who post assessment videos. There are various nursing disciplines that require additional training. Much of that training apparently needs videos. Then there are the tuition videos designed to help nurses improve their expertise and log continuing professional development hours.
With nursing, GPs, and physicians we have videos which are commonly dedicated to medical examination material and this can be quite restful.
In my one blog post per week, I have hardly scraped the surface of everything that seems to be out there in this area. I may, one day, happen upon an even more productive area (paediatrics currently is a little explored area for example). But for the moment thank God for all the nurses out there and the efforts that they put in.
Today’s is from a channel dedicated to nursing it is this:
01.03 The 5 Minute Assessment Physical assessment
Despite the claims of its title the video is nearly six minutes in length.
There are no notes, which is unusual for a professionally produced video. Comments are permitted. Mostly these are unhelpful, but they do lead me to suspect that a number of people listening to this video are ASMR fans.
Oh no introductory music. Thankfully though, it is brief and unsurprisingly, for a video that declares it is all going to happen in five minutes, the pace sets off pretty rapidly and perhaps not as quietly as I would like.
The patient self-identifies as, I think, “Tammy Hawes” but that is probably misspelled. Once the examination begins things start to quieten down, but the pace certainly does not slow any.
The channel is “Nursing made easy” this has one hundred and seventy-two videos at the time I am looking at it and eight hundred and ninety-nine subscribers. That is rather a lot of videos/subscribers.
There are six playlists. One of these has seventy-four videos in it.
However examining the videos in overview, it appears that the titles denote a series. Posted one year ago are four videos with titles ranging from 01.02 to 01.05.
A quick scan of the remainder reveals that few if any will be suitable for our purposes.
The first is this one:
01.02 Barriers to Health Assessment
At just less than eight and a half minutes, the title doesn’t obviously sound like one for us. There are, again, no notes but this time no comments either. There is introductory music again. Then that frenetic pace of presentation (but this time in roadrunner proportions).
I imagine people actually play this one on half speed if they are trying to study it properly.
This really isn’t for the Procrastination Pen playlist.
01.03 is where we came in of course.
01.04 Adult Vital Signs
This is just less than five and a half minutes so another short one. Again, there are no notes and, perhaps thankfully, no comments either. That, accursed, introductory music of course. But after that start the pace is somewhat slower than with the previous two videos. It still isn’t what you would call slow though.
In this one neither patient nor the nurse doing the examination actually get to say anything, it is all about the narrator.
I think the videos in this particular blog article are probably all borderline restful. They are just good enough for the Procrastination Pen playlist but potentially liable to weeding on subsequent review.
The last video in this particular set is this one:
01.05 Pediatric Vital Signs
This is a bit of a segue in fact; the numbering system obviously linking more to the originating course than to the people delivering the examination, the patient, or even the specific subject area.
This one is just less than six and a quarter minutes long. As before there are no notes and no comments. As before the annoying start up music. As before the pace is pretty fast.
This is more a course-delivery video than a medical-examination video. It is not especially restful (although I’m sure if you are on the specific course, it is very informative).
This is not really for the Procrastination Pen playlist
The Nursing made easy playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:
I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
Habitually I am reviewing inadvertent ASMR videos i.e. those videos made for one purpose (usually medical examinations) but which are relaxing enough to produce ASMR effects in those lucky enough to have them.
Recently though I seem to have meandered more into the world of ASMR YouTube channels. It will not be a permanent move however. My intention is to get right back to genuine medical videos.
Today’s channel is “ASMR Sandwich Breath”, as mentioned before “sandwich breath” is a bit of an insider ASMR joke. People either know of the sandwich breath video or they do not. Afficionados of ASMR videos are expected to understand the inside jokes. (I only get a few of them as there are a great many such videos).
Today’s blog article is about this video:
Physical Medical Exam Unintentional ASMR
The video starts with the title “PE for TOPE Student Demonstration”.
Ross, here the “patient”, Jessica the medical professional. She states this is the University of Washington and that she is a registered nurse. The comments state that the original of this video has now been deleted. Assuming that we can trust those comments, this is possibly the only place we will encounter this video.
The University of Washington has its own channel of course.
There are seven hundred and fifty-seven videos on that channel and twelve playlists. The upshot of which is that some of those playlists are composed of over one hundred videos.
Jessica’s video does not seem to be there.
UDUB is apparently a shortening for the University of Washington to those in the know.
Ross does not seem the happiest patient or, taking a more positive view, he could be half asleep.
Jessica enunciates the medical terms here in such a clear way, possibly the best I have heard so far.
I also notice a great deal of time taken to explain what is coming next. Perhaps this thoroughness explains why the video is in excess of thirty-four minutes.
This is very quiet. Jessica at intervals is on a par with Vicky Scott which is quite a statement. The result is a video which is a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
The video concludes with a healthy amount of information Jessica Burke-Lazarus BSN, RN Midwifery-DNP student was the medical professional Jessica it turns out graduated in 2013 and now works in Seattle.
The “patient” was Rosson Wiebe PMHNP-DNP Student Ross also graduated in 2013 and went on to work in Florida.
It also tells us that it was filmed December 9 2011 in the Center for Excellence I Nursing Education at the University of Washington.
ASMR Sandwich Breath has forty-eight videos as at today’s date. That is a fair-few videos to attempt to motor through. A quick scan of them reveals some old favourites which we have covered before.
The usual approach is to reduce the number to be covered by selecting a suitable playlist from the channel.
There are five playlists on here but some of them are a little on the long side.
As with the above video, I will cover this one in a future review of the video in its proper home.
Gastrointestinal Exam Unintentional ASMR
We’ve covered Mark Pepin and Corey Duke before so I won’t repeat it here.
Only one video made it to the Procrastination Playlist this time so there will be no Jessica Burke-Lazarus playlist on the Procrastination Pen. (Great though this video proved to be).
The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:
I have been listening to that playlist most nights and some of the videos that were members have now been removed. If any of your favourites are missing from that main playlist you can find them here in the archive list:
Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than occasional intrusive noises. The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:
I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.
Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.
If you liked this blog item why not subscribe to this blog.
Recently, I am finding some variability around the efficacy of using just the ASMR videos to get some sleep. Some nights very effective, some nights a distraction, and some nights just not effective at all.
On such nights, I tend to lie on the sofa and tune into the dreariness that is late night television (dreariness is probably advisable as really compelling television is only going to keep you awake for longer).
However, there are other things to try, for example, there are free online meditation resources. Some people I am told find the discipline of meditation really diverting. I have until recently found focusing on meditation to be one more thing I do not want to do when I am tired and I want to sleep.
However, never say never, I recently have received a gift subscription to Calm and I am giving some of the meditations a try. So far without positive outcome, but you never know.
Meantime I am back to finding more ASMR videos. I am trying to stay ahead as I notice that some of my blog posts already have blank spaces where videos used to be. Videos are obviously being taken down.
Previously, we have dealt with the Sterling Freeman part of this partnership.
Now we have Olivia Rabone and, as we saw in that previous blog post, this looks like it is a video designed as part of an assessment.
Head-to-toe physical assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
As we have heard before, the ever-present air conditioning to provide an audio background for us. In this, Sterling Freeman is the “patient”.
Olivia Rabone attended Howard College Texas until 2022
Howard College has (as we’ve come to expect) has its own channel.
However, the badge on the shoulder of Sterling does not look anything like that on the Howard College Channel.
Sterling also studied at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
This college also has a YouTube channel. However, the badge is not like that on the uniform.
Sterling early in the video confirms that they are both at Howard College, Big Spring Texas. (Perhaps the college has subsequently changed its branding).
We also get the confirmation that this is 2019, which was very likely Sterling’s final year there (although Olivia appears to have attended for longer than that).
I always find it amusing that in these videos the students provide privacy by drawing an invisible curtain. We have seen this before of course.
I’ve seen a few applications of a blood pressure cuff in these videos. Given how far Olivia has to wrap that cuff around Sterling’s arm I think it might be bit on the large side.
The assessment proceeds at the pace of an express train. This makes me wonder if trainee health professionals are under the cosh to get things accomplished in the smallest amount of time possible.
Olivia seems to be reciting from a mental script as the empathy quotient in this video is not obviously high.
Against that, the tone is really pleasant; it is not excessively loud. It makes a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
The channel, unsurprisingly, is called Olivia Rabone. It has eight videos on it, which is a number I think I can cover here without over stretching your attention. (The Procrastination Pen playlist is at the end of this article if you want to skip to that point, simply scroll down to find it).
Although Olivia hosts this one on her channel the medical professional here is Sunny and the “patient” is Olivia.
Sunny has her own channel which might be worthy of a future review.
Judging by Sunny’s shoulder badge (which is the same as Sterling’s in the previous video) this is also filmed at Howard College.
We have the constant drone of force-driven air to keep the ears entertained. In this case the medical professional’s volume is not aligned with this background noise. It is quite difficult to hear what Sunny is actually saying. This might be ok if the air conditioning noise was more restful but I do not find that it is.
The camera appears to be a huge distance from the two participants. This is unusual for videos of this type. However, given we are mainly here for the listening experience I cannot judge this video solely on that basis.
Sunny at intervals seems to be distracted. Potentially she is trying to follow some standard assessment checklist.
This does make it a little difficult to relax into the experience (and fall asleep to it for example).
Overall, I think the sound quality discounts this video from the Procrastination Pen playlist.
This continues in the vein of the last video, with a high background noise in relation to the main spoken audio track.
Stacy Kuykendall is a remarkably common name in Texas it turns out (including one woman whose children were killed). The upshot of which is that I have been unable to determine if Stacy has a YouTube channel.
To be honest given this is set up exactly like the last one it didn’t stand a chance from the outset so I will not be adding it to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
The background noise on this is really intrusive, including what sounds like a whole flock of rock doves trying to outcompete one another.
There are a number of non-medical and non-ASMR comments with this video. But none of these have any interest to us.
There is the noise of overflying planes. At one point Olivia starts laughing, which given the challenges involved in filming here, is probably unsurprising.
If you’re watching as well as listening, there are also some strange artefacts coming from sunlight across the lens.
As before, there are occasional gaps as Olivia consults a checklist so it is a little staccato in approach.
It just isn’t there in terms of ASMR, so it will not be into the Procrastination Pen playlist.
CN’s & Musculoskeletal-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
Here we are straight back to the partnership that we started this blog item with. Although the partnership is the same, it appears that someone stuck the microphone actually inside the air conditioning outlet.
The audio track is nearly completely occluded by the constant whirr that is going on.
It is a shame because in all other respects this is the equal of the video that we started with in this article, but I don’t think it can really go through to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Respiratory & Cardiac assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
Yet again the background noise is high. However, I think this is just acceptable. It is very calm and considerably more methodical than some others featured in this blog post. However, it may well suffer an early weeding if it proves to be distracting on subsequent review.
A louder vocal track would have compensated for the air conditioning. Perhaps YouTube videos of the future will incorporate an air conditioning filter designed to eliminate all that excess noise.
HEENT assessment-Olivia Rabone and Sterling Freeman
This seems to start a bit louder, but so does the air conditioning. I could probably provide a good service to listeners if I could somehow process all the sound tracks to eliminate background noise. Sadly, however I am no sound engineer.
There are relatively few comments but just shy of seven and a half thousand views, which sounds remarkable.
To be honest, I’m not certain it is a great Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
NG tube/EN/PN discussion
This is so much quieter than the others which must be down to the change of venue. This is filmed inside someone’s house. The start of the video though is not restful. It is almost in the format of a lecture with the delivery a tad hesitant.
Someone off camera starts coughing and Olivia is merely reading from a script.
This one isn’t for the Procrastination Pen playlist either.
The Olivia Rabone playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:
The Procrastination Pen playlist (which is no-doubt what you have all been reading this in order to locate) is found here:
I have been listening to that playlist most nights and some of the videos that were members have now been removed. If any of your favourites are missing from that main playlist you can find them here in the archive list:
Quite often the videos getting removed have no faults other than occasional intrusive noises.
The playlist of items that are great for ASMR (but contain an age verification function), usually a great way to interrupt your listening in the middle of the night, is here:
I hope that you find the playlists restful and that you get a good night’s sleep.
Hope to see you again back here for the next blog article.
If you liked this blog item why not subscribe to this blog.
We are back to fairly safe ground this time. Firstly, this video is not found in a channel dedicated to ASMR (this blog focuses on unintentional ASMR videos for review material). Secondly, we are back to a Cranial Nerve exam which has featuredbefore.
Neuro PACES is the channel and it is fairly easy to cover as it contains in total five videos none of which is longer than ten minutes (in fact all are quite a bit shorter than that).
The Cranial Nerve Examination is this one:
Cranial Nerve Examination Example
A nice calm start but progress through the video does seem to be quite hurried. Dr Michael is the medical professional, Mr Foot is the “patient”
I would guess that in order to get the entire exam completed within five minutes Dr Michael really needs to be motoring along.
The video is quite a bit different to the Vicki Scott one in this respect.
As the video progresses, if anything, it gets even quieter but the pace never seems to slow down much. To me that is not too distracting and it is a good video for the Procrastination Pen playlist I think.
The patient here states that the sensation in his face is unequal. This is the first time we have come across this in any of the videos covered so far. Surprisingly there is no mechanism here for noting that concern, that seems unusual. In addition, the medical professional here does not echo back the concern. Reflecting the concern has been more typical in the videos we have covered so far.
A number of the videos seem to have been set up specifically for the neuropaces course organised by:
Professor Benedict Michael, Professor in Neuroscience, MRC Clinician Scientist and Honorary Consultant Neurologist
Professor Tom Solomon, Chair of Neurological Science and Honorary Consultant Neurologist
Dr Viraj Bharambe, Neurology Consultant
Dr Rosie Heartshorne, Neurology Registrar
I’ll make a guess that Dr Michael and Professor Michael are the same person.
Investigating the rest of the Neuro PACES channel we find that there are no playlists. Without a playlist order to guide the sequence of videos to review let’s begin with those videos dedicated to medical examination:
Lower Limb Examination Example
This features Dr Michael again, this time with Mr Jamieson. Again, this is a very gentle presentation. This one is pretty nigh ideal for our purposes and is a definite candidate for the Procrastination Pen playlist.
The patient here seems to be really struggling, the first time I’ve seen this featured in a medical examination video. The videos reviewed to date have always featured healthy people. I’m guessing these are usually student volunteers. This is quite a good vindication of what the process is supposed to be for i.e., verifying an unwell person’s condition.
For our purposes though it is a good ASMR candidate and like the previous one merely five minutes long. I’d say Dr Michael is as good here ASMR-wise as Dr James Gill which is quite a statement to make.
Neurology Lower Limb Examination for MRCP PACES. NeuroPACES.mov
The patient isn’t introduced in this video and Dr Michael starts off in much more robust fashion than in the previous two videos, (it’s quite a bit louder, as if he is trying to enunciate for a distant audience). There is a consistent background hubbub as if it is being filmed in a public area.
However, it still has its quiet and attentive moments which brings it back into a candidate for the Procrastination Pen playlist for me. It is still not quite as good as Shane Brun though.
In common with the other videos in this article it really motors though and is all over in five minutes. Overall therefore this one is not a great Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
The Solomon System- NeuroPACES
This time the medical professional is flagged at the beginning Professor Tom Solomon PhD. FRCP of the Walton Neuro Centre NHS Foundation Trust & University of Liverpool
The “patient” is quite quickly introduced as Simon.
This is a longer video at eight minutes fifty seconds (though that is still not long in terms of the many videos we’ve reviewed in the past).
Professor Solomon has not got quite such a calm voice as Dr Michael sadly. I think again the problem is that he is presenting to a wider audience so his voice is louder. But at least there isn’t the background hubbub in this video.
There is quite a good description as to why some of the tests are actually performed and how to do these tests in the minimal time.
I’m not going to add this one to the Procrastination Pen playlist though.
NeuroPACES: The Walton Centre Neurology MRCP PACES Course
Another calm start, however it is just an intro video to the neuro PACES course. We get promotional material including funky music. This is not the kind of thing you want when you’re attempting to doze off.
This one is not going into the Procrastination Pen playlist.
The NeuroPaces playlist on the Procrastination Pen channel is here:
The overall Procrastination Pen Checklist (featuring all videos covered in the blog so far) is here:
The archive playlist of videos that were in the above playlist but found after lengthy review not to make the grade, is here:
I keep this in case people have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I dislike these as they require me to stop listening and login to verify my age. You may find that you have more patience than I do in which case this list is for you.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of relaxation as a result.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
As before, I should provide a brief introduction for those who do not know anything about:
a) this blog
b) this subject.
I’ve written on this before and it might be worthwhile reviewing that post for details.
In brief though, this section of the blog involves reviewing ASMR videos, or indeed any video that could be relaxing enough that when you are desperate for sleep it might encourage you to get some.
The result is a playlist of such videos and the opportunity to feedback as to whether my choices were appropriate that week.
The YouTube Channel this time does not have many subscribers two hundred and seventy subscribers in fact, so it is almost an unknown channel. Is this an ASMR find? Possibly…
The video is:
Head to Toe
This has a reasonably high level of background noise, possibly an open space perhaps (although the part we get to see is enclosed by curtains). The nurse is Keisha whose channel this is (more of that in a moment). The “patient” does announce her name which I think is “Mallory Myers” – that looks wrong to me but it is what it sounds like.
The comments as usual are a bit off the wall, even brutal, but fortunately if you came for the sleep then you will not be reading those (or even watching the video). It is all about the sound.
The video has the hallmarks of one of those we’ve seen previously i.e. created as part of an assessment process. For example this one includes the fake washing of hands and the insistence on drawing curtains for privacy that are already drawn.
I’ve concluded that somewhere there is a checklist that student assessment videos are unthinkingly adhering to.
These videos have a feeling of being “busy” i.e. trying to cram everything in that the assessor wants to see. This includes a number of technical terms I imagine very few patients would be bothered to hear about.
There’s also a long period of more-or-less nothing at the end when Keisha is doing the paperwork, presumably this is again a requirement.
The examination is lovely and calm, the background noise quickly stops being distracting. There are moments of shared humour and there seems to be reasonable rapport. This is a good Procrastination Pen playlist candidate.
It may have been recorded at Valdosta State University – the nurse’s shoulder badge at one stage appears to indicate this location. This university of course has a YouTube channel, with three hundred and four videos as at today’s date but it does not include any of those listed on Keisha’s channel.
There are seven videos as at today’s date with the above one being the most obvious candidate for ASMR. There are no playlists. However, with only seven videos we can probably take the time to review them all. (Well I can, and you can scroll to the end to listen to the playlist).
There are no videos posted more recently than eight years ago presumably that is how long ago Keisha was a student.
NG Tube
One thing that we can be absolutely clear about here is that there will be zero patient interaction. The patient appears to be plastic.
There is background noise, more insistence on fake privacy and cleanliness measures.
It is quite surreal watching the one-sided interactions in this video.
The notes state it is VSU college of nursing which seems to confirm my earlier guess about the location.
Nonetheless Keisha retains the quiet voice of the previous video and the procedures appear calm and measured. Even if it is apparent that a plastic model cannot actually swallow a tube.
There’s also an amusing point where the person videoing films their own fingers.
This video is a bit borderline. I’ll add it to the Procrastination Pen playlist but it may fall victim to a future weeding process.
The background noise seems worse because Keisha seems very quiet on this. The microphone is presumably not fully up to the task.
The “patient” has no legs which is almost as distracting as people talking and laughing in the background. The patient is plastic, which is a bit of a relief given the subject area. (I’d probably get some kind of YouTube content warning otherwise).
The camera-holding person is a bit of a fidget but given we’re here to listen (and to sleep) that is not such a concern. The sound isn’t amazing but it is unlikely to cause you to wake up in a hurry at 3am (unlike some YouTube adverts I can mention). Therefore, on-balance I think we can include it in the Procrastination Pen playlist (with the emphasis on potential future weeding activity).
Insulin Mixing
This also suffers from low volume. However, I am not so clear this will matter late at night when, necessarily, the volume will be way down in any case. (To ensure that you are not woken by the very playlist you were using to fall asleep in the first place). There is no patient in this video so it does not really qualify as an exam as such.
Keisha seems to be admirably measured in approach. I’m sure there must be classes on Zen meditation or something similar happening in the background to generate so many medical trainees this calm.
I’ll put this one in the Procrastination Pen playlist (even if only temporarily).
Wound Care
The one-sided conversation is nearly as surreal as the virtual door which you can neither knock upon nor close to “provide privacy”. The sound is slightly better apart from the traffic noise which makes itself felt. Once again this includes a plastic “patient”. At least he/she isn’t loud.
The snapping gloves noises are a bit of a wake-up though.
At nearly thirteen minutes it is amazingly long for a one-way interaction but I suppose the great thing about it is that it is quiet. Another video that’s on the Procrastination Pen playlist (possibly pending a future cull).
IM and SQ injections
I would guess this features two student nurses, our favourite, Keisha, and what sounds like “Sky Voss” but probably isn’t. This is filmed in a public area with minimal screening. So far so normal student assessment video.
At just over seven minutes it doesn’t hang around. As injections are not my favourite thing I’ll be watching from behind the sofa.
There is fake privacy and cleanliness again. There is also quite a lot of technical terminology, (as we saw previously). I’m presuming no standard patient would comprehend, let alone request this.
Fracturing the ampule was a bit of a shock (it is loud) but not as bad as the gloves snapping in the previous video. I’ll feature this video on the Procrastination Pen playlist for now.
I’ll schedule a playlist review shortly and remove any that no longer seem up to the desired quality.
IV administration
This is positively whacky; on this occasion the “patient” is a plastic arm.
The sound quality starts bad and seems to get a lot worse. It is like someone is trying to record the video with the microphone actually inside their pocket. There is almost no reception of what Keisha is saying. The presentation could be excellent but sadly it can’t be heard.
Hence this one needs to be rejected from the Procrastination Pen playlist.
The overall playlist of every video that made the grade after a review on this blog is here:
The archive playlist of videos that were in the above playlist but found after lengthy review not to make the grade, is here:
I keep this in case people have personal favourites that they want to hear.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
I dislike these as they require me to stop and login to verify my age. You may find that you have more patience than I do and so are prepared to give it a listen.
I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep as a result.
If you liked this blog article why not follow this blog.
There are twenty-two playlists in this channel some of which are extremely large. (The “Merck Manual Consumer Version” contains ninety videos for example. If I attempted to cover all of those it would not be not so much a blog post as a book on ASMR).
Since my last blog post they have changed elements of the Merck Manuals channel to state that it is not available outside the United States.
I hope it wasn’t something that I said.
If like me you’re not in the United States I am afraid that you are left with whatever remaining crumbs there are in terms of videos that are still available.
Contains seven videos which are still visible outside of the US. (Who knows how long you’ll be able to see even these. I suggest you go listen to them before it is too late).
How to do the Mental Status Exam | Merck Manual Professional Version
This is another video with funky start up music. I mean, really, don’t they know I’m trying to sleep?
The narrator here is way too loud sadly. Fortunately, that doesn’t last very long. The “patient” states that she is in Philadelphia in the Einstein Medical Centre. It’s not your standard ASMR stuff in that it is a little bit loud even in the medical exam portion.
I also notice that the medical professional asks how many nickels there are in a dollar and I realised that I did not know (in case you’re also not located in the US the answer is twenty apparently).
Some of these tests are a bit tough. It made me wonder about my own memory as I’m not sure I’d be able to pass such tests.
The video is just a bit loud I think and not great ASMR material so not one for the Procrastination Pen playlist.
How to do the Cranial Nerve Examination | Merck Manual Professional Version
It looks like startup funky music for videos in this playlist is going to be a theme.
Here the narrator is more muted and much more in keeping with what we’re looking for, I think. The video is designed to be for teaching/instruction so although there is an examination of a patient the actually dialogue between medical professional and “patient” does not feature in the video.
However, I think this one will make it to the Procrastination Pen playlist.
Cerebellar Examination: How to Assess Gait, Stance, and Coordination | Merck Manual
There is music at the start as before. Maybe eventually I will find a way to edit videos for their ASMR effects but that currently is not the purpose of this blog/playlist.
The narrator has learned his lesson after the somewhat loud presentation of the first video in this list. He is quite calm and reasonably quiet.
The exam proper appears without audio – the narrator is filling in what the stages in the exam mean. It is an instruction video that is also quite good for ASMR. This video will also be in the Procrastination Pen playlist.
How to do the Motor Examination | Merck Manual Professional Version
I notice that comments for these videos are turned off. Turning off comments stops some of the crazier contributions that we’ve seen of late but it also stops us working out if others are using these videos for their ASMR effects.
To me they seem a good find, this one included.
How to do the Sensory Exam | Merck Manual Professional Version
This is the longest video of the set, but it follows the format of the other videos seen so far. We’re entirely reliant upon the quality of the narrator here (especially to distract us from the music interludes). Fortunately, he has a good voice.
There are intrusions of parts of the genuine exam here. The only distraction with these interludes is the background noise. This is almost certainly the air-conditioning noise which we have become used to from other videos.
In this playlist whilst the medical professionals have changed between videos the “patient” remains the same.
Another good video for the Procrastination Pen playlist, I think.
How to Test Reflexes | Merck Manual Professional Version
Apart from the first video these have been consistent. Quite a good find this series and this particular video is worth making part of the Procrastination Pen playlist.
How to do a 4-Minute Neurologic Exam | Merck Manual Professional Version
This is exactly the same format as the other videos covered in this article. They were all posted six years ago. I notice that the notes tell me something about the Merck Manual:
“First published in 1899 as a small reference book for physicians and pharmacists, The Merck Manual grew in size and scope to become one of the world’s most widely used comprehensive medical resources for professionals and consumers. As The Manual evolved, it continually expanded the reach and depth of its offerings to reflect the mission of providing the best medical information to a wide cross-section of users, including medical professionals and students, veterinarians and veterinary students, and consumers. • Merck Manual Professional Version: http://www.MerckManuals.com/Professional”
I’m guessing that there is some financial consideration involved in its use. If it produces videos of this quality, I’m in favour (well until they totally remove my ability to see the videos in any case).
However, if the video recording guys are reading, please quieten down the funky music at the beginning (or better still go for a silent intro).
This is another one for the Procrastination Pen playlist, I think.
The overall playlist containing all the videos featured so far is here.
The above playlist has now grown quite large so I have started to weed out some of the less effective ones. However I realise that some people may consider them favourites so I have added the removed videos to an archive playlist.
However, if people who post videos keep taking those videos down again, or making them unavailable to a person writing a blog in the UK, then I may find the weeding is being done for me behind the scenes.
There is also the playlist for the small number of videos I have covered that require age verification. There has been limited demand for these so I doubt I will cover many more (unless I do so by accident).
As promised in an earlier blog item, I decided to follow up on “ROM and MMT” as a search term. This results in a great many videos with the kind of unpleasant noises in them which prove to be distracting.
There are however, a multiplicity of videos on this theme. It is a matter of persistence to find one which doesn’t have the air conditioning pretending it is a steel band.
UE Evaluation Review
The title is: “UE Functional Assessment ROM & MMT Screening Pinch & Grip, Edema & Pain”.
(I was pretty sure that was oedema – but obviously not.)
Janey is the medical professional in this one, Lisa is the “patient”. It is not as relaxing as Vicki Scott but is pretty calming. At only seven minutes thirty-nine seconds it is quite a good length for a medical exam. Fortunately, it lacks much in the way of obtrusive background noise.
Janey Detommaso is the channel. There is nothing posted here more recently than four years ago. This video is the shortest one. There are four videos and Lisa only features in this one.
With only four videos and none of these any longer than fourteen minutes thirty-four seconds, it’s worthwhile running through the others to see if they are any good ASMR-wise.
Shoulder & Elbow ROM and MMT
The title at the start of the video is “Range of Motion & Manual Muscle Testing ROM of the Shoulder, Elbow and Forearm” which is handy as that fits with the search term I was originally using.
In this one Janey is a bit loud from the start. The camera angle is a bit odd. It is probably just propped on a table somewhere. But it isn’t the visual aspect of the video that is the reason for us being here. At intervals, Janey tones it down a bit and actually gets to quiet. It is a shame she doesn’t do this the whole way through the video because when Janey chooses to do this she has a great voice.
Subsequently the filming switches to a bedroom – which leads me to suspect the whole video is part of some student assessment process. I would guess that otherwise it would be filmed in a medical establishment.
At fourteen minutes thirty-four seconds this is the longest of the four videos on this channel. There are twenty-three subscribers but no comments. It is conceivable (though not probable) that no one in the ASMR community has yet reviewed this one.
The sound on this one is really poor. It seems to have been filmed in a group situation in which people are paired off.
Other people are talking away in the background. It is difficult to distinguish the main track in this video. This really wrecks it for ASMR sadly.
This is not one for the playlist then.
The badge on Janey’s top seems to indicate it is at an establishment with the acronym TWU. This is potentially Texas Women’s University who seem to offer occupational health courses at Dallas and Houston locations.
It is a shame about that sound quality.
Hand & Wrist ROM/MMT
This video is twelve minutes fifteen seconds so it is the second longest video on this channel (and the final one available). Mr Hernandez crops up again (we saw him in the “Shoulder & Elbow ROM and MMT” video earlier).
Again, the interior appears domestic rather than medical. At the start of the video there is a strange flickering light behind the window Mr Hernandez is sat in front of. This is distracting, but only if you’re watching. As we’re all about the listening experience here, I’m ignoring it.
The sound is quite good, there is no background noise and Janey seems at her most calm here compared to any of the videos covered in this article.
This one seems well worthy of the Procrastination Pen playlist as it is quite relaxing.
The playlist for Janey Detommaso is here:
The overall playlist for all videos covered so far in this blog is here:
The archive list of videos that once made it into the overall playlist but upon reflection did not make the grade is here:
That list only exists in case I remove someone’s favourite video.
The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:
Warning this list will cause you to stop in order to log on to verify your age. If you’re happy with that then this playlist is for you. Personally I just ceased watching any material that requires that logon.
If you liked this blog article why not subscribe to this blog.
The Procrastination Pen 
