Exam Tips
Le Fort Fractures
Le Fort fractures are complex fractures of the midface, involving the maxillary bone and surrounding structures in either a horizontal, pyramidal or transverse direction. The hallmark of these fractures is traumatic pterygomaxillary separation. They account for...
Recognising Myocardial Infarction Patterns on the ECG
Being able to rapidly identify an acute myocardial infarction (MI) pattern on the ECG is a vitally important skill for clinicians, particularly those that work front line in the Emergency Department. MI causes permanent damage to heart muscle and any delay in...
Major Incident Management Part 2 – At the Hospital
In Part 1 of our review of major incident management, we focused on management at the disaster scene. In Part 2, we will focus on how hospitals respond to the declaration of a major incident and manage the potentially large number of casualties that can arrive in the...
Major Incident Management Part 1 – At the Scene
A major incident is an incident (or series of incidents) causing casualties on a scale beyond the normal resources of the emergency and healthcare services' ability to manage. The Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS) manual states that a major...
Phases of Clinical Research
Bringing new drugs onto the market The process of bringing new drugs (or other health interventions) onto the market is long and arduous and, in some cases, can take years or even decades. Developing any new drug begins by developing an understanding of the disease or...
Lung Volumes and Capacities
Lung volumes, which are also known as respiratory volumes, refer to the various volumes of gas in the lungs at any given time during the respiratory cycle. Lung capacities are derived from a summation of different lung volumes. It is important to have an understanding...
The Diagnosis and Management of Atrial Fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia seen in clinical practice. It is a perennial hot topic in medicine and remains a very common source of exam questions. The diagnosis and management of AF presents some serious challenges, and...
The Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System
The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) is a hormonal system that is responsible for the regulation of arterial blood pressure and of the concentration of sodium in the plasma. Renin and angiotensinogen The first stage of the RAAS is the release of the...
Stroke and Transient Ischaemic Attack
The latest guidance from NICE for the management of stroke was keen to highlight the fact that it is both preventable and treatable and not merely an inevitable consequence of ageing. Stroke is defined by the World Health Organization as a clinical syndrome consisting...
Clostridial Infection
The Clostridia are a member of the family of Firmicutes. They are spore-forming, gram-positive, obligate anaerobes. The majority of the genus are saprophytic organisms that ferment plant polysaccharides and are found in many places in the environment, most notably the...