SAQ Library
Free Open Access Short Answer Questions for ED Fellowship Study
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Acute facial swelling with fever
A 45-year-old man presents to your emergency department with fever and right-sided facial swelling.
Central retinal artery occlusion
A 50-year-old male presents with sudden onset of visual loss in the left eye. He denies any pain. Fundoscopy is …
Acute epiglottitis
A 38-year-old man self-presents to your ED with fever, sore throat and stridor. You are concerned about epiglottitis, and he …
Ventriculoperitoneal shunt failure
A 21-year-old woman with a VP shunt presents with worsening headache, nausea, lethargy and reduced GCS. Obs on arrival : …
Acute spinal cord compression
A 62-year-old man is brought to your Emergency Department by ambulance with flaccid paralysis of all four limbs without preceding …
Acute vertigo
A 79-year-old man presents to your Emergency Department with acute vertigo.
Lateral medullary (Wallenberg) syndrome
A 69-year-old man has been sent into the Emergency Department by his GP after an outpatient CT scan which shows …
Sudden severe headache
A 34-year-old woman has presented with a sudden onset, severe headache and vomiting. GCS 14 HR 100 BP 190/110 RR …
Severe abdominal pain in a school-aged child
A 12-year-old boy presents with severe abdominal pain and vomiting. On arrival he is groaning and pale with the following …
Suspected acute cholecystitis with normal blood tests
A 40-year-old woman presents with right upper quadrant pain. Despite normal laboratory results, acute cholecystitis is suspected and bedside ultrasound …
Elderly abdominal pain
An 80-year-old patient from a high-level care nursing home presents with constipation, abdominal distension and confusion.
Gastroenteritis
A husband and wife present to the emergency department after a date night at a restaurant. Shortly after returning home, …
Chest pain in sickle cell disease
A 25-year-old man with sickle cell disease presents with non-productive cough, severe central chest pain and hypoxia. Vitals are as …
Unilateral pleural effusion
A 75-year-old woman presents with increasing exertional dyspnoea over several weeks. Chest X-ray demonstrates a unilateral pleural effusion and a …
COPD exacerbation
A 75-year-old man presents with severe shortness of breath due to an infective exacerbation of COPD. You are considering NIV …
Acute pulmonary embolism
A 41-year-old female presents to your tertiary centre Emergency Department with acute onset shortness of breath and chest pain. Her …
Infective endocarditis
A 36-year-old man with intravenous drug use presents with fever and malaise for three days. His observations are as follows: …
Syncope during basketball
A 19-year-old man presents following a syncopal episode while playing basketball. He is now haemodynamically stable.
Chest pain
A 69-year-old female presents to the ED with 12 hours of chest pain and shortness of breath.
Syncope at work
A 60-year-old man presents with a syncopal episode whilst at work. He is unable to describe any preceding symptoms and …
Acute respiratory distress and chest pain
A 75-year-old man is brought into the resus room of your tertiary ED with acute respiratory distress. Family members report …
Nitrous oxide inhalation injury
A 21-year-old man presents one hour after inhaling nitrous oxide directly from a medical-grade canister. He develops throat and chest …
Ketamine-associated airway emergency in child
A 4-year-old girl receives IV ketamine for procedural sedation to suture a forehead laceration. She vomits, develops stridor, desaturates, becomes …
Blocked tracheostomy with haemorrhage
A patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis presents with sats of 75%, central cyanosis and poor respiratory effort. He has a …