#FOAMed

Could routine HIV testing make emergency care a stronger public-health opportunity? This 2017 discussion examines the rationale behind NICE’s 2016 guidance, including local prevalence, consent and follow-up. It considers how ED screening might reach people who do not attend sexual-health services and reduce barriers to diagnosis.

How do we make decisions when time is short and information incomplete? This introduction to St Emlyn’s first e-book brings together risk, probability and metacognition, explaining why thinking about our thinking matters in emergency medicine.

How much does delay matter when giving tranexamic acid? This 2017 journal club examines individual patient data from CRASH-2 and WOMAN, exploring the relationship between treatment timing and bleeding deaths, the size of the benefit and the analysis’s limitations.

A 2017 conversation with the #bad_EM team explores African emergency medicine, shared learning and plans for the 2018 festival conference near Cape Town. The accompanying post considers why locally relevant FOAMed and support for African delegates matter.

A year with Sydney HEMS offers lessons beyond clinical practice. The final instalment explores facing fears, recognising fatigue, responding to frustration and making time for the people who matter, alongside the value of humility and reflection.

Should patients without ST elevation undergo early coronary angiography after cardiac arrest? This 2017 review examines mortality and neurological outcomes, then challenges the impressive apparent benefit by considering selection bias, retrospective studies and the limited randomised evidence available at the time.