Scenario
An 18 year old intoxicated man is brought to your emergency department after diving into shallow water. He has examination findings consistent with a complete C6-C7 cord lesion. He has no other injuries.
Question
a. Describe your management. (100%)
Answer
FACEM SAQ Exam 2007.1 – Question 8
- The overall pass rate for this question was 28/55 (50.9%).
- Pass Criteria
- Examiners considered this another core question which was overall done quite poorly.
- Good responses identified major issues of airway control, potential deterioration in transport and secondary spinal injury.
- Features of unsuccessful answers
- Poor answers failed to deal with the issues mentioned or inappropriately used a standardized trauma template to this specific case.
- There was little discussion re the pros and cons of steroid therapy in this scenario.
About Mike Cadogan
