Our hands are important. The sensory information they collect and their ability to co-ordinate complex movements allow us to explore and physically interact with our environment…
Trauma ibook – an introduction
This iBook is structured according to the ATLS 10th edition chapters. Why have we done this when ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) is often considered “archaic” and not to be recommended…
The 3Cs of Paediatrics
It’s Friday evening and you’re at work in the ED (where else would you rather be??). Jack is a 15 year old boy who has taken an overdose of paracetamol a couple of hours ago. He texted his…
A Brief(ish) Guide to Blogging for RCEMLearning
Potential bloggers have frequently asked the RCEMLearning team for a template or some kind of formal guidance about how to write blogs…
Tropical Diseases
Next to be seen is a 35 year old male, returned from Ghana, presenting with muscle pain, headaches, a history of fever and diarrhoea…
Cardiac Arrest in the Pregnant Patient
Cardiac arrest in pregnancy is a potential presentation to the emergency department. If it happens, you are likely to be cognitively overloaded.…
New Years Quiz for Emergency Clinicians
Happy 2019! Your RCEMLearning blog team is so excited that 2019 is finally here, and as we couldn’t control our excitement, we’ve released an extra early blog to celebrate…
Scrooge-ED: an Alternative Christmas Carol
Christmas Eve. Late shift. Dr Ebenezer Scrooge, FRCEM, had just managed to escape to his office. The evening had been spent, predictably, swimming in a sea of elderly patients presenting “off le…
Paediatric Seizures
The seizing child is truly a scary thing to behold. If you work in the Paediatric ED, you will, at some stage, come across a child who has had a seizure, is recovering from a seizure, or is actively s…
Managing Educational Supervision
Educational supervision has come under scrutiny the last few years. People are no longer automatically deemed to be good supervisors when they hit consultant level.…
Learning Difficulties in the ED
Before my daughter came along I knew very few people with learning disabilities. Of course I saw people with LD at work, but I’m afraid I was pretty ignorant of the issues they faced and didn…
Thinking – situational awareness part 2
It can be useful to have a structure to our decision making whilst also being aware of how we think. When making decisions, especially under a pressurized system, using a structure can be really usefu…
Mental Health in the ED
As a doctor that has previously struggled with my Mental Health I hope to try and help promote a greater understanding amongst ED staff by sharing some of my experiences, and by talking through the re…
Abdominal Pain
Abdominal pain is a reasonably common presentation in paediatrics-increasing as the child gets older…
Head Injury
Walk into any Emergency Department in the country and you are bound to find at least one child waiting to be seen with a head injury…
PEM Headaches
Headaches are one of the most common presentations to ED and may be primary or secondary. Migraine is the most common type of primary headache, but the majority of headaches are benign in nature and r…
Rashes
Rashes are difficult to diagnose in both children and adults. The key is to be able to identify the important types (anaphylaxis urticaria, meningitis, non-accidental injury), and then manage to learn…
Decision Making in Paeds
EM physicians need to be decision makers, quick thinkers and risk balancers. This is what we are good at. In fact, many will tell you that the purpose of the PEM rotation is to learn to spot the sick …
Tips from Someone Who Knows
RCEMLearning asked Kate Dear what her tips for new docs in the PED are. Kate is an excellent Nurse Consultant/ANP, and if there is someone who knows, it’s her.…
PEM Introduction/ Editor’s note
We hope you find this book as a useful adjunct to your learning while here. Our blogs have been tailored to meet most PED presentations and our brilliant contributors have been working hard to make su…