Key Topics in Resus: 30 High-Yield Resuscitation Topics for FRCEM & MRCEM
Resus is where the exam and the shop floor overlap most. This book distils the resuscitation curriculum into 30 topics, each on exactly two pages. Revise one in ten minutes, or skim the whole lot in an evening.
Written for FRCEM and MRCEM candidates and senior ED clinicians. Aligned to RCUK 2025 and current UK guidance (NICE, RCEM, DAS, BSH, UKKA, BTS/SIGN, NTSP).
30 topics across 8 sections
- Cardiac arrest — BLS/ALS, refractory VF, post-ROSC care and prognostication, special circumstances, arrest in pregnancy
- Peri-arrest — bradycardia and pacing, tachyarrhythmias, STEMI reperfusion, massive PE, severe hyperkalaemia
- Airway — obstruction and stridor, trache and laryngectomy emergencies, ED RSI, difficult airway and FONA
- Shock and sepsis — shock, sepsis, anaphylaxis, life-threatening asthma
- Trauma — primary survey, massive haemorrhage, traumatic arrest and resuscitative thoracotomy
- Neurology and toxicology — the unconscious patient, acute opioid toxicity
- Paediatrics — PBLS/PALS, arrhythmias, septic shock, major trauma, SUDIC
- End of life — organ donation from the ED
Every topic follows the same pattern
- Top 10 — the ten things to know cold
- Key numbers — doses, energies, thresholds and timings in one table
- FRCEM/MRCEM exam traps — the distractors and commonly confused numbers
- Revision notes, pitfalls and key evidence — with clickable links to the primary UK source
- Test yourself — an exam-style question per topic, with answers and explanations
Three ways to use it: a one-hour skim pass (Top 10s and traps only), a deep pass one topic a day, or a night-before pass on the key numbers tables.
Guidance checked to October 2026, with a line-by-line dose audit of every dose, energy, threshold and time window against its primary UK source. Version 1.3.
67-page PDF. For trained healthcare professionals. Educational resource only — not a substitute for local protocols, the BNF or clinical judgement.