Latest posts

Rich Carden uses Star Wars and Robert Cialdini’s principles of persuasion to explore everyday interactions in emergency medicine. The reflection connects reciprocity, consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity with referrals, teamwork and diagnostic bias, encouraging awareness of psychological influences rather than manipulation of patients or colleagues.

Could a follow-up phone call reduce return visits after a child leaves the emergency department? This 2014 appraisal examines a Canadian study in which callers collected concerns without answering them, questioning allocation methods, outcome measurement and whether reattendance alone can tell us that care was better or worse.

A guide to the Royal College of Radiologists’ 2014 recommendations on imaging injured children. Natalie May explains why paediatric injury patterns and radiation concerns require a distinct approach, then works through the report’s advice by body region and the role of clinical assessment in deciding whether to image.

Iain Beardsell and neurointensive care consultant John Hell discuss diffuse axonal injury in this 2014 podcast. Using a hypothetical injured cyclist, they explore the underlying mechanisms, why initial imaging may reveal little, the evolution of secondary injury and the difficulty of predicting recovery for an individual patient.

A round-up from the final day of the College of Emergency Medicine’s 2014 Exeter conference. Short talk summaries cover traumatic cardiac arrest, major trauma in older people and traumatic bleeding, alongside reflections on how freely shared conference resources can extend learning beyond those attending in person.

Day two highlights from the College of Emergency Medicine’s 2014 Exeter conference, with short recordings on rugby medicine, quality improvement, chest pain assessment, atrial fibrillation and mental health. The collection also links to the college’s mental health toolkit and the other daily reports.