Orthopaedic injuries are a common presentation within the Emergency Department. It is important for junior doctors to be able to develop the skills necessary to identify and confidently manage the most commonly presenting orthopaedic injuries in the general population.
James talks to Dr Nicholas Maluga, Orthopaedic Registrar, about common emergency medicine orthopaedic presentations.
Summary Writer: Aisha Khan
Script Writer: John Farey
Editors: Nicholas Maluga and Dan Heitman
Interviewee: Nicholas Maluga
Dr Nicholas Maluga graduated from the University of Tasmania in 2009 with a double degree of Bachelor of Medical Science and Bachelor of Surgery. He completed his internship and resident years at the Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne and relocated to Sydney to complete his Masters of Surgery from University of Sydney in 2013. Since then, Nick has been working as an Orthopaedic Registrar at St Vincents Hospital, John Hunter Hospital and is currently at Nepean Hospital. Nick is currently working to complete his second Masters of Clinical Epidemiology from University of Newcastle. His early research interests were in Paediatric Orthopaedics and he completed and presented at the Australian Orthopaedic Association meeting a large research project which looked into physiotherapist-led screening for Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip in newborns. Nick’s current research interest lies in utilising technologies to deliver and streamline healthcare and physiotherapy access to remote areas.
With Dr Nick Maluga, Orthopaedic Registrar at Nepean Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Orthopaedic injuries are a common presentation within the Emergency Department. It is important for junior doctors to be able to develop the skills necessary to identify and confidently manage the most commonly presenting orthopaedic injuries in the general population.
A 64-year-old female presents to the emergency department with a deformed left wrist following a fall. You suspect a fracture. The patient is also complaining of numbness and tingling in the first three fingers.
An 80-year-old female has been referred to the Emergency Department from a low-level nursing home with left hip pain following an unwitnessed fall. An X-ray demonstrates a subcapital neck of femur fracture.
You are in the Emergency department seeing a 7-year-old boy who has swung and fallen from monkey bars onto his left forearm and now has a swollen, painful elbow which he is still able to move a little bit but appears slightly shortened and rotated in comparison to the other side.
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