Severe allergic reaction
A wife brings her husband to the ER. The middle aged man is sitting on the sofa, sweaty and dyspneic, unable to give us a medical history. Our first step will be:
To lay the patient down and try to get a brief medical history, e.g.: complaints of the patient, past medical history, chronic medication and allergies. We do the basic physical examination according to the algorithm A (airway), B (breathing), C (circulation), D (disability), E (exposure).
We get a complex medical history and take a blood samples. The medical history must include personal, family, social, pharmacological, and toxicological history and the current illnesses. If the medical history is incomplete, we could risk the patient’s life.
Suspect a cardiac arrest and get an ECG