Authors: Edward Barnard, James Harper / Editor: Jason M Kendall / Reviewer: Jolene Rosario, Mark Brown / Codes: EP6, RP1, SLO5 / Published: 16/12/2023

A 4-year-old girl presents to the Emergency Department (ED) with a four-day history of fever and sore throat. Today her mother has noticed that she is holding her head to one side, refuses to eat and thinks that her voice sounds different.

The Emergency Nurse Practitioner (ENP) initially sees the patient; she reports that the girl looks unwell, has a fever of 39.5°C and a torticollis. The ENP thought an x-ray might help and shows it to you asking for an opinion on the case.

The x-ray is shown:

Toxic Torticollis

Module Content