Prescribing

Suddenly stopping alcohol intake in patients who have been drinking heavily for prolonged periods is dangerous and can lead to severe withdrawal. Delirium tremens can...

For new doctors, prescribing anticoagulants can be daunting. A few simple rules can make this easier. Ensure you use your local guidelines in the first...

Bowel obstruction is a common reason for admission or complication of patients under the surgical team, but doctors don’t frequently get that much exposure to...

When I supervise and teach FY1s, prescribing is in the top three things they are most concerned about. Usually, they’re worried that they won’t know...

Constipation is one of the most common complaints in hospital, especially on the geriatric wards.Failure to treat constipation can lead to longer hospital stays and...

Serum calcium concentration is tightly regulated between 2.1-2.6mmol/L. Severe hypercalcaemia is a life-threatening electrolyte emergency requiring prompt recognition and urgent treatment.  Do check out our...

Acute hypocalcaemia that is severe (<1.9 mmol/L) or symptomatic can be life-threatening and necessitates urgent treatment. It is often initially picked up when a patient...

As an FY1 you will frequently see hypokalaemia and most trusts have guidelines that should be used in the first instance. The advice below is...

The UK Medicines Information group have provided excellent guidance on how to replace magnesium.Useful advice on treatment: Clinical features Usually asymptomatic Irritability & lethargy Nausea/vomiting Psychiatric: confusion,...

The UK Medicines Information group have provided excellent guidance on how to replace phosphate. Clinical features Generally asymptomatic if mild Can cause many systemic features...

In this article, we’ll cover the treatments used in Diabetes Mellitus. We’ll look at key things you need to know about each therapy, when you...

You will frequently get calls regarding nausea & vomiting: many patients present with it or develop it because of their diagnosis or treatment. You must...

You will likely encounter an opiate overdose due to the prevalence of opiates for recreational use, in those who have chronic pain or mental health...

As doctors, you will frequently see patients with opiate dependence. It isn’t uncommon for these patients to be admitted due to withdrawal or due to...

Medicines reconciliation is the process of accurately listing a person’s medicines. This often takes place when they’re admitted into a service and is an important...

As an FY1 it is likely that you will manage paediatric patients during their admission, often in other specialties like general surgery. Having a few...

Dying is a natural process and unfortunately, something that we all come across in our daily jobs, including whilst on call. Despite this, very little...

As an FY1, you will encounter these either during clerking shifts or you may look after them on the ward. As it is quite common,...

In this article, we will present several common scenarios involving Parkinson’s disease (PD) that F1 doctors might face on the ward or on call. We...

The PSA is aimed at final year medical students and those graduating overseas to assess their competency at prescribing as Foundation Year 1 Doctors. It...

When assessing pain, ensure you begin by taking a history to characterise the pain as neuropathic pain, inflammatory pain and oncological pain all respond to...

There are certain situations where you need to prescribe IV fluids which vary from fluid resuscitation to maintenance fluids if a patient is nil-by-mouth (NBM)...

In this article, we will go through the three most common scenarios you will encounter. These are: (1) Does this patient need a transfusion? (2)...