Using an evidened-based and protocol driven approach, The Foundations of Emergency Care guides readers through a multitude of common patient scenarios, to help them acquire essential skills in assessment and priority assignment in an emergency care setting.

The Foundations of Emergency Care covers:

• Cardiac Emergencies: including the new 2006 ALS guidelines
• Head Injuries
• Acute Surgical Emergencies
• Gynaecologic and Obstetric Emergencies
• Respiratory Emergencies
• Paediatric Emergencies
• Minor Trauma Illness
• Major Trauma
• Acute Medical Emergencies

Contents

• Emergency Care
• Applying Theory to Practice

1. The Initial Assessment: Prioritizing Care Delivery

• Homeostasis
• Normal Perfusion
• Defining Perfusion
• Defining Shock
• Types of Shock
• Hypovolaemic Shock
• Septic Shock/Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS)
• Anaphylactic Shock
• Cardiogenic Shock
• Neurogenic Shock/Initial Assessment

2. Acute Cardiac Emergencies: Implications in Clinical Practice

• Prevalence
• Pathophysiology
• Acute Coronary Syndromes
• Unstable Angina
• Non-ST Elevated Myocardial Infarction (NSTEMI)
• ST Elevated Myocardial Infarction (STEMI)
• Initial Assessment
• Assessing the ECG
• ECG Recognition: The Basics
• Treatment Regimens for ACS
• Atrial Fibrillation/Heart Block Pathophysiology
• Degrees of Heart Block/Cardiac Arrest Synopsis
• Advanced Life Support

3. Minor Injury and Illness

• History Taking
• Minor Injuries: Wrist and Hand
• Minor Injuries: Treatment and Management
• The Elbow
• The Shoulder
• The Foot
• The Ankle/The Knee
• Wound Assessment
• Minor Illness

4. Major Trauma: Assessment Prioritization and Initial Treatment

• Organizaton of Trauma Care
• The ABCDE Approach to Initial Assessment
• Airway (with Cervical Spine Control)
• Advanced Airway Techniques
• Alternative Airway Management Techniques
• Breathing (with Ventilation)
• Circulation (with Haemorrhage Control)
• Fluid Resuscitation
• The Chest
• The Abdomen
• Diagnostic Perioneal Lavage
• Focused Abdominal Sonography for Trauma
• Computed Tonography
• The Pelvis and Long Bones/Burns
• Diability
• Exposure/Environmental Control

5. Gynaecological and Obstetric Emergencies

• Bleeding in Early and Late Pregnancy
• Miscarriage: Treatment and Pathophysiology
• Ectopic Pregnancy
• Obstetric Haemorrhage
• Non-pregnant Causes of Vaginal Bleeding
• Ovarian Cysts/Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
• Emergency Care

6. Acute Surgical Emergencies

• Patient Assessment
• Appendicitis
• Cholecystitis
• Bowel Obstruction
• Pancreatitis
• Peritonitis
• Renal Colic
• Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA)

7. The Brain

• Definition and Prevalence
• Anatomy and Physiology
• Primary Damage and Directional Forces
• Secondary Damage
• Types of Head Injury
• The Assessment
• Head Injury and Pupillary Changes
• Continuing Observation

8. Respiratory Emergencies

• Dyspnoea
• Anatomy and Physiology
• Airway Assessment and Mangement
• Basic Airway Adjunts
• Oxygen Delivery Devices
• Asthma
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Pneumonia

9. Medical Emergencies

• Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA)
• Sickle Cell Disease
• Pulmonary Embolism
• Gastrointestinal Haemorrhage
• Diabetes
• Acute Confusional States
• Hyperglycaemia/The National Service Framework for Diabetes
• Acute Diabetic Emergencies: Hyperglycaemia
• Self-harming

10. Paediatric Emergencies

• Anatomical and Physiolgical Differences
• Recognition of the Unwell Child Using a Rapid Assessment Approach
• Childhood Asthma
• Cardiac Arrest in Childhood
• Meningococcal Disease/Disability
• The Fitting Child/Exposure/Consent and Treatment
• Safeguarding Children in the ED

Index

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