Tension Pneumothorax after Motorcycle Collision
A branching clinical case simulation for a patient presenting with severe breathlessness after motorcycle collision with deviated trachea and absent left breath sounds. Take a history, examine, investigate, diagnose and treat while the patient responds to every decision, then see the score by clinical domain with the reasoning for each mark.
Year 4medium20 min5 stages
- Patient
- 28 years, male
- Presenting complaint
- Severe breathlessness after motorcycle collision with deviated trachea and absent left breath sounds.
- Decision stages
- Examination, Diagnosis, Treatment, Monitoring
The presentation
You are the on-call doctor in the emergency department of a district general hospital. A 28-year-old man, James Carter, has just arrived by ambulance after a motorcycle collision. He is in severe respiratory distress, with a deviated trachea and absent breath sounds on the left. The paramedic hands him over to you. What do you do next?
What this case teaches
Diagnose tension pneumothorax clinically, perform immediate needle decompression, insert a chest drain, and complete the primary survey.
How the case unfolds
- 1Primary Survey: Immediate PrioritiesExamination
- 2Working DiagnosisDiagnosis
- 3Immediate DecompressionTreatment
- 4Definitive Management: Chest DrainTreatment
- 5Reassessment and Ongoing CareMonitoring
The decisions available at each stage, and what each one costs or earns, appear when you run the case.
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A free account opens the simulator: the patient's observations move with your decisions, and every choice is scored and explained.
Taught in
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Educational content for students and clinicians in training. It does not replace professional judgement, local protocols or current prescribing information.