The Emergency Department

Jon Whittaker MBChB DA FRCS(Edin) FFAEM Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Preston.Anne Brickwood BSc MBChB Senior House Officer, Critical Care Rotation, Whiston Hospital, Merseyside.Andrew Curran BSc MBChB MRCS A&E(Edin) DIMC Specialist Registrar in Emergency Medicine, North West Deanery.

Preface Introduction How to use this book Risks and difficulties of working in the emergency department Giving pain relief Abbreviations Table of normal haematological and biochemical values Part A: ILLNESS Chapter 1: MEDICAL Cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest flowchart Chest pain Chest pain flowchart Palpitations Palpitations flowchart Breathlessness The breathless patient flowchart Collapse/loss of consciousness (LOC) Collapsed patient flowchart The patient with infection The patient with infection flowchart Diabetes mellitus Headache Headache flowchart Poisoning Severe allergic reaction Thromboembolic problems Environmental problems Haematological problems Psychiatry Ophthalmology CONTENTS Chapter 2: SURGERY Abdominal pain Abdominal pain flowchart Acute arterial occlusion Rectal bleeding Testicular pain Testicular pain flowchart Gynaecology Spontaneous miscarriage flowchart Orthopaedics Joint problems flowchart Part B: INJURY Assault Major injury Burns Swallowed/inhaled foreign bodies Minor wound care Injury according to location Canadian cervical spine rule flowchart Part C: INFANTS General information The unwell child Abdominal problems Breathlessness CNS problems and injury Status epilepticus flowchart Injury INDEX Contact numbers Glasgow coma scale Child's Glasgow coma scale (<4 years old)