The following five patients have been triaged in the emergency department. You are currently the only doctor free. On this history alone, prioritise the order you would like to eyeball each of the patients.
| Question 01: A - 8 month old boy who is screaming and irritable, with pallor on and off. His parents think he has abdominal pain. He passed a small amount of PR blood earlier. His mum thought it looked like blackcurrant jelly. B - 13 year old girl who has had abdominal pain for three months. C - 7 year old girl who has had a few vomits for the past 24 hours and anorexia. She is now pyrexial and pale. She complains about abdominal pain in the lower right quadrant. She says the pain was previously more around the umbilicus. D - 14 year old boy with acute onset abdominal pain, 8/10 in severity for 2 hours, who can barely walk. He has had no vomiting. E - 6 week old male infant with projectile non-bilious vomiting after feeds for the past two weeks. His mum noted his skin has become wrinkly. |
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| B - E - D - A - C |
| D - A - C - E - B |
| B - E - C - A - D |
| E - B - C - A - D |
| B - C - A - E - D |
| Check answer |
ExplanationThe correct answer is D - A - C - E - B. Children with acute pain that may indicate obstruction are urgent cases (D), as is intussusception (A). Appendicitis (C) and pyloric stenosis (E) are semi-urgent |