Citation

Davies FC. Emerg. Med. J. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Emergency Department, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester LE1 5WW, UK Ffion.davies@doctors.org.uk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/emermed-2019-209280

PMID

31932396

Abstract

Diagnostic reasoning in emergency medicine is like a jigsaw. With clinical experience we refine and balance information with the right degree of weight, hoping to ‘get it right’ while avoiding unnecessary delays, tests or harms. The stakes are high if we are considering child abuse. False positive or negative conclusions bring uncomfortable or even deadly consequences. High profile cases may make us anxious about getting involved, but we must, it is our job.

The Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) research network examines the performance of the PredAHT-21 2 clinical prediction rule for abusive head trauma (AHT) in under 3 year olds in this EMJ article.3 The reason for this age cut-off is that we know that the vast majority of AHT occurs in infants.4–9 The patients included all had abnormal CT head scans and an …

Language: en

Keywords

head; non-accidental injury; trauma