Emergency Medicine

What can competitive simulation teach us about working with an unfamiliar resuscitation team? Simon Carley looks back at SIMWARS at SMACC Gold, exploring communication, leadership, teamwork and the tension between education and entertainment, with a recording of the event and reflections on performing under pressure.

Recorded at the London Trauma Conference in 2014, Iain Beardsell and Gareth Davies discuss impact brain apnoea after head injury. They explore the proposed physiology, difficulties in gathering evidence and the potential role of bystanders and early responders in addressing airway and breathing problems.

A New Year message from January 2015, setting out St Emlyn’s plans for its blog, podcast and educational projects. The team looks ahead to SMACC Chicago and reflects on the conference’s combination of medicine, education, entertainment and professional community.

Why did progesterone’s promise in experimental brain injury fail to translate into benefit in a large clinical trial? This 2014 journal club examines patient selection, randomisation, anticipated treatment effects and stopping for futility, using the study to explore the challenges of translating laboratory findings into patient care.

Could time spent in an emergency department offer an opportunity for sexually transmitted infection screening? This 2014 appraisal examines a trial of brief counselling and testing in young women, questioning its sample size, generalisability and whether measuring immediate uptake captures the wider value of screening.

A satirical ‘Fellowship of Corridor Medicine’ introduces a serious discussion of emergency department overcrowding. Simon Carley follows the spoof with practical reflections on departmental leadership, communication, sharing risk across the hospital and supporting patients and staff when demand overwhelms the space available for safe care.