Scenario
A 7 year old boy is brought to your emergency department by his teacher after sustaining an injury to his left eye during sport at school that morning.
Question
a. Describe and interpret his photograph. (30%) b. Outline your assessment. (70%)
Answer
FACEM VAQ Exam 2007.2 – Question 5
- The overall pass rate for this question was 50/77 (64.9%).
- Photograph showed a child with a hyphaema with a swollen, ptosed upper eyelid and some minor grazes in the infraorbital region.
- The examiners agreed that this was a good image raising core issues for discussion. Satisfactory answers identified the image abnormalities and addressed a focused history, physical examination and relevant tests such as use of slit lamp.
- Failed answers missed the hyphaema or failed to make a suitable assessment.
- Of note was that both examiners expressed concern that assessment did not include mention of past health, medications and allergies or assessment for injuries in other body areas.
- The question may have benefited from a more specific scenario excluding previous illness and other injuries at presentation.
About Mike Cadogan
