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Learning route for doctors

Emergency medicine practice for doctors: ABG, CXR and ventilation

Revisit mixed acid–base patterns, emergency chest imaging and structured assessment. Then rehearse an OSCE or explore the ventilator concepts behind a deteriorating patient.

Start here: ABG → emergency CXR → ventilation, then OSCE and prioritisation

Start this route See the sequence

Starting sequence

Start here: your first three exercises

Each card says what you will do, the level, roughly how long it takes and whether it is a guide or an exercise. The sequence is a suggestion: start anywhere, and there is no enrolment or score to unlock the next step. Use fictional cases for practice and agree your scope with your supervisor or employer.

  1. ABG interpretation

    Mixed disorders and compensation in cases 7–13, then the advanced extension, cases 14–20.

    Intermediate to advanced · 14 questions per set · Interactive cases

    Start ABG cases 7–13

  2. Emergency CXR interpretation

    Diffuse opacities, a large pneumothorax and the limits of a normal film.

    Emergency · cases 4–6, 6 questions · Image quiz

    Start the emergency CXR cases

  3. Ventilator practice

    The foundation calculations first, then pressures, waveforms, alarms and liberation.

    Foundations then advanced · 12 cases · Practice lab

    Start the advanced cases

Further practice

Skills to build, in order

Carry on from step 4. Each activity builds on the ones before it.

  1. Emergency OSCE

    Station 7: explain an ABG that suggests deteriorating ventilation, plus an ABCDE station of your choice.

    Intermediate · 8 min, marked /20 · OSCE stations

    Open station 7

  2. Prioritisation and reassessment

    Four patients, then a deterioration that changes the order.

    Intermediate · scenarios 5–8, 8 decisions · Interactive scenarios

    Start the emergency scenarios

Skill 1 of 4

ABG interpretation

Cases 7 to 13 move from single disorders to mixed patterns and compensation that does not fit; calculate the expected compensation rather than estimating it. The advanced extension, cases 14 to 20, adds the harder mixed pictures.

Skill 2 of 4

Chest X-ray interpretation

The emergency cases cover diffuse opacities, a large pneumothorax and the limits of a normal film. Describe before you diagnose, and say what the film cannot exclude.

Skill 3 of 4

Ventilation

Start with the foundation calculations, such as minute ventilation, dead space and predicted body weight, then move to pressures, waveforms, alarms and liberation. Link each change you make back to the blood gas that prompted it.

Skill 4 of 4

Emergency OSCE stations

Station 7 asks you to explain an ABG that suggests deteriorating ventilation; pair it with an ABCDE station of your choice. Each station runs for eight minutes and is marked out of 20.

What to practise before your first shift

Before your first shift in a new department or a remote post, rehearse prioritising four patients when one deteriorates, a remote-clinic SBAR and the infusion arithmetic you will be checking for others. Then keep ECG, lung POCUS and decision-case practice ticking over.

Where this fits with your exams

Emergency medicine membership and fellowship exams, such as MRCEM, FRCEM and FEBEM, test ABG, chest X-ray and ECG interpretation in written questions, and the explanation of results in OSCE-style stations. These exercises practise that reasoning with explained answers; they are not a mock exam and carry no score.

Carry on in the app

Other learning routes

Every route uses the same free exercises. Back to all learning resources, including the resource finder and all seven practice tools.