Full Blood Count
FBC - full blood count; FBE - full blood examination; FBP - full blood picture
Platelet Function Assays
PFA-100 = citrated whole blood placed in a disposable cartridge containing a membrane coated with collagen/adrenaline or collagen/ADP into which a microscopic aperture has been cut -> with high shear rates contact of blood with the membrane causes platelets to aggregate and occlude the aperture.
Thromboelastogram (TEG)
Thromboelastography (TEG) is a viscoelastic hemostatic assay that measures the global viscoelastic properties of whole blood clot formation under low shear stress
Thrombophilia Screen
Thrombophilia is a predisposition to increased risk of venous and arterial thromboembolism due to haemostatic abnormalities
VBG versus ABG
Reviewed and revised 7 January 2016 OVERVIEW Venous blood gases (VBG) are widely used in the emergency setting in preference to arterial blood gases (ABG) as a result of research published since 2001 The weight of data suggests that venous pH…
Abdominal Ultrasound
abdominal ultrasound findings for important critical care diagnoses
Chloride in Critical Illness
Chloride is the major anion in the extracellular fluid (ECF) and is the second most important contributor to plasma tonicity. The possibility of harm from hyperchloraemia, particularly in the context of fluid resuscitation with chloride-rich solutions such as normal saline, is an area of intense research interest
Ammonia and hyperammonaemia
OVERVIEW Hyperammonaemia is easily forgotten as a potential cause of metabolic encephalopathy Ammonia is produced by the hepatic metabolism of amino acids and is primarily degraded via the urea cycle In the absence of obvious liver dysfunction or a drug…
Paediatric Burns
Paediatric Burns: Basic assessment and management
Paediatric Dehydration Assessment
The most useful individual signs for predicting 5% dehydration in children are an abnormal capillary refill time, abnormal skin turgor and abnormal respiratory pattern. Combinations of examination signs provide a much better method than any individual signs in assessing the degree of dehydration.
Paediatric Hypothermia
Paediatric Hypothermia predisposition: radiation (large surface area to volume ratio, large head); convective (repeated examinations with exposure to atmosphere); conductive (loss of heat into bed); thermoregulatory response altered (sedation or paralysis, neurological injury)
Paediatric Trauma
Paediatric Trauma