EDGEMED PRIMARIES · PEARLS BLOG

🚀 Launching · 27 live, more coming

Primaries Pearls

Short, high-yield clinical teaching points written for Year-1 senior residents sitting the EM Primaries exam. Anchored to Mahadevan & Garmel (the bundled Clinical Companion textbook), focused on recognition + initial management — a different content stream from the Snell · Ganong · Katzung · Harrison FRCEM Basic Sciences anchors that drive the MCQ bank.

📖 Now reading

First Primaries pearls — live now

27 pearls live, more in the launch queue below. Subscribe to a Primaries plan to read full content (titles + tags stay open as a discovery surface).

West African EM - Infectious Diseases - Immunocompromised Host · 11 min read

HIV emergencies at Primaries level - advanced HIV disease, PJP + co-trimoxazole, the rapid-test algorithm, and same-day ART linkage in the Ghanaian ED

hiv emergency advanced hiv disease aids-defining illness pneumocystis jirovecii pjp pneumonia

West African EM - Cardiovascular Emergency - Time-Critical Diagnosis · 10 min read

Massive (high-risk) pulmonary embolism at Primaries level - the shock presentation, POCUS RV strain, and empirical alteplase in the peri-arrest Ghanaian

pulmonary embolism massive pe high risk pe obstructive shock wells score

West African EM - Surgical Emergency - Sepsis and Source Control · 10 min read

Necrotising fasciitis and Fournier's gangrene at Primaries level - pain out of proportion, the LRINEC caveat, and getting to theatre in six hours

necrotising fasciitis fournier gangrene flesh-eating infection pain out of proportion lrinec score

West African EM - Paediatric Toxicology - Household Accident · 9 min read

Kerosene ingestion at Primaries level - the recycled Coca-Cola bottle, the no-lavage rule, and the delayed pneumonitis

kerosene ingestion hydrocarbon poisoning aspiration pneumonitis chemical pneumonitis paediatric toxicology

West African EM - Enteric Fever - Food-borne - Ghana · 10 min read

Typhoid fever at Primaries level - the stepwise fever, the rose spots, the leucopenia, and the week-3 perforation

typhoid fever enteric fever salmonella typhi stepwise fever faget sign

West African EM - Viral Haemorrhagic - Ashanti Ghana · 10 min read

Lassa fever at Primaries level - the exudative pharyngitis, the facial oedema, the ribavirin window, and the grain-store rat

lassa fever arenavirus viral haemorrhagic fever vhf exudative pharyngitis

West African EM - Viral Haemorrhagic - Northern Ghana · 10 min read

Yellow fever at Primaries level - the biphasic course, the Faget sign, the 17D vaccine, and the febrile Ghanaian traveller from the north

yellow fever flavivirus biphasic fever faget sign febrile jaundice

West African EM - Tropical Zoonosis - Coastal Ghana · 10 min read

Leptospirosis at Primaries level - the fisherman with fever, yellow eyes, red conjunctivae, and calf pain after the lagoon flood

leptospirosis leptospira weil's disease conjunctival suffusion febrile jaundice

West African EM - Cardiology - Paediatric Rheumatology · 10 min read

Acute rheumatic fever at Primaries level - the JONES criteria, the milk-maid grip, and the four-weekly benzathine penicillin for 10 years

acute rheumatic fever arf rheumatic heart disease rhd jones criteria

West African EM - Tropical Diarrhoea - Coastal Ghana · 9 min read

Cholera at Primaries level - the rice-water stool, the WHO dehydration ladder, the cholera cot, and the single-dose doxycycline

cholera vibrio cholerae el tor rice-water stool acute watery diarrhoea

West African EM - Neuromuscular Emergency - Rural Ghana · 9 min read

Tetanus at Primaries level - the trismus, the risus sardonicus, HTIG at the wound, magnesium for spasms, and why not penicillin

tetanus clostridium tetani tetanospasmin trismus risus sardonicus

West African EM - Obstetrics - Maternal Emergency · 10 min read

Postpartum haemorrhage at Primaries level - the 4 Ts, the uterotonic ladder, tranexamic acid inside 3 hours, and the balloon

postpartum haemorrhage pph obstetric emergency maternal haemorrhage 4 ts

West African EM - Toxicology - Rural Ghana · 9 min read

Organophosphate poisoning at Primaries level - the smell, the toxidrome, atropine to dry secretions, and pralidoxime timing

organophosphate op poisoning cholinesterase inhibitor pesticide chlorpyrifos

West African EM · 9 min read

Rabies at the Primaries level — WHO 2018 post-exposure approach in the Ghanaian ED

rabies post-exposure prophylaxis pep animal bite dog bite

Infectious disease · Meningitis · Meningococcal · Year-1 must-not-miss · 7 min read

Bacterial meningitis in the Ghanaian ED — 30 minutes from arrival to antibiotics + dexamethasone

bacterial-meningitis meningitis meningococcal ceftriaxone dexamethasone

Haematology · Sickle cell · Ghana high-volume · Year-1 must-not-miss · 7 min read

Sickle cell crisis — analgesia, infection screen, spleen, and chest

sickle-cell hbss vaso-occlusive-crisis acute-chest-syndrome splenic-sequestration

Tropical envenomation · Snake bite · Ghana moat · West African EM · 7 min read

Snake envenomation — carpet viper and puff adder bites in the Ghanaian ED

envenomation snake-bite antivenom tropical ghana

Endocrine emergencies · DKA · Year-1 must-not-miss · 6 min read

DKA in new-onset T1DM — fluid, then potassium, then insulin

endocrine dka diabetes fluid-resuscitation potassium

Obstetric emergencies · Eclampsia · MgSO₄ first-line · 6 min read

Eclampsia — magnesium is the answer, not diazepam

obstetric eclampsia pre-eclampsia magnesium maternal-mortality

Trauma · Resuscitation · Transfusion · Coagulopathy · 7 min read

Massive haemorrhage — the 1:1:1 ratio and the TXA window

trauma massive-haemorrhage transfusion txa coagulopathy

Orthopaedic emergencies · Shoulder · Reduction · 5 min read

Anterior shoulder dislocation — reduce without making it worse

orthopaedics shoulder dislocation reduction high-yield

Neurology · Stroke · HINTS exam · 6 min read

Posterior circulation stroke — the 5 Ds and the HINTS exam

neurology stroke hints-exam posterior-circulation high-yield

Resuscitation · Sepsis · Hour-1 bundle · 4 min read

Sepsis bundle in the first hour — the Hour-1 bundle that saves lives

resuscitation sepsis hour-1-bundle antibiotics high-yield

Cardiology · STEMI · ECG · 4 min read

Recognising STEMI from a single ECG glance — the 4 classic cues

cardiology stemi ecg acs high-yield

Allergy · Anaphylaxis · Resus · 3 min read

Anaphylaxis — IM adrenaline first, before everything else

allergy anaphylaxis adrenaline resus high-yield

Neurology · Status epilepticus · 4 min read

Status epilepticus first-line — lorazepam vs diazepam vs PR diazepam

neurology seizures status-epilepticus benzodiazepines high-yield

Tropical · Severe malaria (paediatric) · 3 min read

Severe malaria in the Ghanaian child — IV artesunate, not quinine

tropical malaria paediatric ghana artesunate

Request the next pearl

The initial launch queue is now live. Each pearl is a 3-6 minute read built around one classical recognition pattern — Mahadevan & Garmel for the recognition framework, plus the named current guideline for management (RCEM Best Practice, BOA, NICE, AHA/ASA, ESC, SSC).

Got a topic you keep getting tripped up on? Email edgemed.em@gmail.com with the subject "Primaries Pearl request" and the topic you want next. We write to the queue order our subscribers ask for.

Different from Membership Pearls (advanced patterns + landmark trials) — Primaries Pearls test recognition fundamentals, the way the entry exam does.

In the meantime — practise the 3,070 Primaries questions

The full Primaries Tutor mode is live: ~1,640 Basic Sciences MCQs (Snell · Ganong · Katzung · Harrison FRCEM · Harper/Lehninger-anchored — all 6 pillars live) bundled with the 1,446 Mahadevan Clinical Companion across all 56 canonical chapters (25/chapter floor).

Enter Primaries Tutor →