Janice Muller

Hospital Ward (post-surgical patient, day 4 post-op)

A 55-year-old woman on day 4 post-surgery presents with sudden right-sided pleuritic chest pain (7/10, worse on inspiration) and dyspnoea at rest over 2 hours, with prolonged immobility, major surgery and intraoperative blood loss as risk factors. Working diagnosis is pulmonary embolism; pneumonia, pneumothorax, pleural effusion, pericarditis and ACS must be excluded urgently. The station rewards a systematic Wells-criteria approach and prompt anticoagulation.

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Data Gathering

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Clinical Reasoning

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Clinical Decision Making

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