Investigations

The majority of the investigations in a shocked patient will be focused on identifying the cause of the shock, for example FAST scan in trauma, ECG in cardiogenic shock and echocardiography in massive pulmonary embolus.

It is well recognised in trauma that reliance on physiological parameters such as BP and urine output will lead to under-resuscitation in many patients, and the preceding sections have highlighted that, in particular, a falling blood pressure is a late sign in shock. [19, 20]