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).
Suspect a cardiac arrest and get an ECG
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.