Emergency Medicine

How should teams approach apparently devastating brain injury when early prognosis is uncertain? This 2018 article and podcast explore guidance on initial care, conversations with families and the risk of premature treatment limitation. They also consider the practical tensions around specialist transfer, intensive-care capacity and organ donation.

The St Emlyn’s team looks back on 2017 through favourite blogs, podcasts, books and conferences. Alongside clinical and educational discoveries, contributors reflect on friendship, workload, wellbeing and the experiences that shaped their year, before sharing hopes and plans for 2018.

What makes a conference question worth everyone’s time? Simon Carley revisits a tongue-in-cheek question-asking algorithm and the serious point behind it: making discussion useful for the whole audience. He considers moderated social-media questions, their limitations and ways to encourage focused debate without silencing participation.

Vicky Vella’s 2017 introduction to MARSIPAN explores the medical risks of anorexia nervosa and why they matter in emergency care. It discusses recognising physical deterioration, assessment and coordination with admitting teams, drawing on the adult and junior guidance available at the time.

Natalie May introduces the e-book collecting her reflections from Sydney HEMS, with 104 lessons drawn from the original blog series. This 2017 announcement explains the collection’s additional photographs, foreword and chapter on entering prehospital and retrieval medicine, and links back to the seven source posts.

Is paracetamol alone enough for pain after minor musculoskeletal injury? This 2017 review examines a randomised non-inferiority trial comparing paracetamol, diclofenac and their combination. It explores pain outcomes, trial design and exclusions, including why the findings cannot simply be extended to fractures or all painful injuries.