Rapid Visual Diagnosis in Emergency Care

Emergency personnel  face numerous challenges in the approach to the critically ill or injured  patient. Clearly, the history of the event is a vital portion of the  evaluation, providing the “answer” to the clinical situation in many  instances. The physical examination and the results of various diagnostic  investigations (i.e., electrocardiogram or monitor tracing), however, are  also essential components of the medical evaluation. In fact, the examination  itself often provides the provider with either the diagnosis or important  information which will lead to the diagnosis. Rapid bed-side clinical  diagnosis, based upon specific clinical images, is a vital skill for EMS  personnel. The purpose of this lecture is to provide some of those visual  diagnostic clues that might be encountered in acute care scenarios. Each  visual cue is associated with an actual case. The audience will be questioned  and a focused and brief discussion on each picture will then follow. [Based  on our book entitled Visual Diagnosis in Emergency and Critical Care Medicine.