SAQ Stack

Short Answer Questions for ED Fellowship Study

Case: Severe life-threatening asthma

You are the tertiary ED consultant on duty. Your team is treating a 40-year-old male with severe life-threatening asthma. The patient is currently alert, GCS 15, RR 32, saturating 88% on 15L/min O2, BP 150/95. You have optimised medical therapy.

1. State the benefits of NIV in this setting. (2 marks) 2 marks

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After 1 hour, despite maximal therapy and NIV, your patient starts to fatigue. You have decided to intubate the patient.

2. Post-intubation, outline (4) of your ventilator settings and explain the rationale for each of your choices. (8 marks) 8 marks

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15 minutes post-intubation, the patient becomes hypotensive 72/50.

3. What are (4) potential aetiologies and what steps would you take to treat them? (8 marks) 8 marks

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This case forms part of a collaborative marking project designed to support fellowship preparation. In the week leading up to each tutorial, you can contribute answers to any active case. If you contribute, your answers may be reviewed, marked, and used to refine the model answers during the weekly fellowship teaching sessions.

All responses are displayed anonymously or using anonymised avatars. You remain in full control of your answers and may withdraw them at any time.

Your personal results and updated model answers become available the day after the tutorial.

After the tutorial you can still do the case and self-mark your answers, but your answers will not be included in the group review.