Scenario
A 45 year old man is brought to your emergency department with severe pain in his right hip after a fall from his bicycle an hour earlier. He has no other obvious injuries.
His observations are:
Question
a. Describe and interpret his X-ray (50%) b. Outline the analgesia options (50%)
Answer
FACEM VAQ Exam 2008.2 – Question 2
- X-ray of complex orthopaedic injury showing comminuted mid shaft femoral fracture, hip dislocation, acetabular fracture and fracture into the pubic symphysis. Air splint in place.
- The overall pass rate for this question was 62/81 (76.5%).
- Good answers demonstrated a systematic approach to x-ray interpretation and recognized the high likelihood of significant blood loss and significant analgesia issues.
- Poor answer missed one or more injuries and/or failed to take into account the haemodynamic instability in suggesting analgesic options.
- Many candidates failed to answer the question as set.
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