Francis Morris & Alan Fletcher 
ABC of Emergency Differential Diagnosis 

A practical guide to the diagnosis and treatment of acute symptoms
and conditions, the ABC of Emergency Differential Diagnosis
provides a step-by-step guide to emergency differential diagnosis
for non-specialists in a hospital or primary care setting.

This new title in the ABC series covers the assessment,
diagnosis, treatment, and management of the most common symptoms
with ‘walk through’ diagnosis, clear learning outcomes, and easy to
find treatment options.

Using the familiar problem-based teaching approach for rapid
assimilation of information, case studies in each chapter allow the
reader to be sure that they have synthesised the information given
and can apply it to clinical cases.

Table of Content

Contributors vii

Preface viii

1 Unconsciousness and Coma 1
Roger Dalton

2 Calf Pain 5
Francis Morris and Alan Fletcher

3 Chest Pain – Cardiac 9
Nicki Doddridge

4 High Fever 13
Rachel Foster

5 Vaginal Bleeding 18
Sian Ireland and Karen Selby

6 Transient Weakness 22
Carole Gavin

7 Abdominal Pain – Epigastric 26
Duncan Drury

8 Acute Headache 30
Tom Locker

9 Acutely Painful Joint 34
Rachel Tattersall

10 Chest Pain – Pleuritic 37
Claire Gardner and Kevin Jones

11 Dizziness 41
Scott Davison

12 The Intoxicated Patient 48
Sue Croft

13 The Shocked Patient 52
Arun Chaudhuri

14 Palpitations 57
Charles Heatley

15 Low Back Pain 60
Richard Kendall

16 Acute Confusion 64
Steve Goodacre

17 Shortness of Breath 68
Kevin Jones and Claire Gardner

18 Collapse of Unknown Cause 72
Peter Lawson

19 Abdominal Pain 76
Suzanne Mason and Alastair Pickering

Index 81

About the author

Francis Morris, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Northern
General Hospital, Sheffield, UK. Lead editor of ABC of Clinical
Electrocardiography. He is the Clinical Director of the Chest Pain
Unit in Sheffiled and has written four book on aspects of emergency
medicine. He is a regional representative of the British
Association of Emergency Medicine. His main research interests are
the management of chest pain, DVT and pulmonary embolus.

Alan Fletcher, B Med Sci(Hons), MB Ch B, MRCP, FFAEM.
Appointed Consultant in Acute General Medicine and Emergency
Medicine in 2004, Alan has clinical responsibilities in the
Emergency Department and Medical Assessment Units. He is Sheffield
Teaching Hospitals’ Clinical Lead for Acute Medicine, Training
Programme Director for Acute Medicine in the South Yorkshire
Deanery, and Foundation Programme Director. Apart from an active
teaching responsibility, he has research interests in the
assessment of Nurse Practitioner competence and the value of acute
medical admission.