Approach to a critically ill patient in the emergency department

The primary approach to a patient in the emergency department is an essential part of the patient's care. Its main objective is to make an initial assessment of vital functionsand stabilize them. The emergency context makes primary assessment more difficult. The medical team's fear is to miss a lesion that could jeopardize vital or functional prognosis in the short or long term, thus increasing morbidity and mortality. An overlooked lesion is defined as a lesion that has not beenor reported during the initial phase of management, and which may be life- or function-threatening. Hence the need for a standardized approach, with reassessment of the efficacy of therapeutic actions implemented at the same time as clinical reasoning and diagnosis progress.