How prepared is your department for an attack involving a corrosive substance? This 2017 post discusses decontamination, eye injuries, multidisciplinary care and support for victims, emphasising local planning and specialist toxicology advice rather than using a blog to direct treatment.
Synthetic cannabinoids can produce unpredictable and severe presentations in the emergency department. This 2017 overview explains their pharmacology, varied effects and uncertain composition, then discusses the difficulties of recognition and management and the role of specialist poisons advice.
Sugar and Spice…Not All Things Nice Read More
Does open cardiac massage outperform closed chest compressions in traumatic cardiac arrest? This 2016 appraisal examines a small study using end-tidal carbon dioxide measurements, explaining why limited numbers and differences between patient groups leave the treatment question unresolved.
JC: Push or Cut? Traumatic Cardiac Arrest Read More
How do our minds steer us towards diagnostic mistakes and unfair judgments? This introduction to cognitive bias uses emergency medicine examples to explore anchoring, availability, oversimplification and assumptions about others, while emphasising that recognising bias in ourselves takes practice.
Recreational nitrous oxide use can be easy to overlook when taking a drug history. This 2016 overview examines acute hypoxia and the neurological and haematological consequences associated with disrupted vitamin B12 function, drawing attention to presentations that may initially seem unrelated.
How should new information change a clinical diagnosis? This introduction to Bayesian thinking uses a chest-pain example to explore updating probabilities, reconsidering alternatives after negative tests and avoiding the false reassurance of ruling out only the first diagnosis considered.
I’m all about the Bayes, ’bout the Bayes, no treble Read More
Rich Carden and Chris Gray reflect on SMACC Dublin in 2016 from a trainee perspective. Their account connects clinical debate and diagnostic reasoning with fear, wellbeing, gender equity and the personal encounters that made the conference a reflective as well as educational experience.
SMACCDUB – A Trainee’s Perspective. St.Emlyn’s Read More
What changed when Sepsis-3 was introduced in 2016? This overview explains the shift towards organ dysfunction, the roles proposed for SOFA and qSOFA, and revised septic-shock definitions, while noting early concerns about applicability and performance across different clinical settings.
Holy Smokes! Batman, the SOFA and the Latest Sepsis Definitions Read More
