What is "Interactive Cases in Emergency Medicine"?
Interactive Cases in Emergency Medicine: Learning through Image Interpretation is a 2026 emergency medicine case-based textbook edited by Alice Yearwood and Dipak Mistry. It presents 70 cases based on real emergency department patients, combining clinical images, radiographs, scans, ECGs, blood films, imaging videos, and single-best-answer questions for learning and revision.
Introduction
Interactive Cases in Emergency Medicine: Learning through Image Interpretation is a clinically oriented case-based textbook designed around a central principle of emergency medicine education: learning from realistic clinical presentations and interpreting the information available at the bedside.
The book was developed from a teaching initiative in a central London emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic. When traditional face-to-face teaching became difficult to maintain, the editors and contributing clinicians developed a mobile-optimized, case-based educational series.
The resulting book brings together these cases in a format intended to complement conventional print learning with interactive digital material.
The book is particularly relevant to medical students approaching clinical practice, newly qualified doctors, emergency medicine trainees, residents, experienced clinicians, and allied health professionals working in emergency and acute-care environments. Its cases range from common presentations to more complex diagnostic and management problems.
A defining feature is its emphasis on image interpretation. Rather than presenting clinical information entirely as conventional prose, the cases incorporate clinical photographs, radiographs, CT and MRI studies, ultrasound, ECG traces, blood films, and other clinical material. Some imaging is presented through video accessible using QR codes, creating a hybrid learning experience that combines the printed case with digital visual material.
Book Overview
Full Book Title
Interactive Cases in Emergency Medicine: Learning through Image Interpretation
Edition
First edition
Editors
Alice Yearwood, MBBS, iBSc (Hons)
Anaesthetic Resident, London, UK
Dipak Mistry, MBBS, BSc(Hons), DTM&H, MRCS, FRCEM
Consultant in Emergency Medicine, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
Publisher
CRC Press, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group.
Publication Year
2026
Medical Specialty
Emergency Medicine, with substantial coverage of acute general medicine, infectious diseases, toxicology, neurology and neurosurgery, trauma and orthopaedics, ENT/ophthalmology/maxillofacial surgery, surgery, paediatrics, critical care, obstetrics and gynaecology, and medicolegal topics.
Intended Audience
The book is intended for clinicians and healthcare professionals working in emergency and acute settings. The introductory material specifically describes an audience extending from newly qualified resident doctors to more experienced clinicians and allied health personnel.
What This Book Covers
The book contains 70 clinical cases, each constructed around a patient presentation and associated diagnostic or management questions. The cases cover a broad range of emergency medicine problems rather than concentrating on a single organ system.
The contents demonstrate the breadth of the material. Early cases include metabolic disturbance, orthopedic trauma, ophthalmology, vascular emergencies, and dermatological presentations. Later cases address cardiac arrest, palpitations, pleuritic chest pain, point-of-care ultrasound, abdominal pain, seizures, sepsis, respiratory distress, neurological presentations, testicular pain, thunderclap headache, transient loss of consciousness, and chest trauma.
The final section includes cases such as trauma to the chest, vomiting and ECG changes, and wound problems, followed by appendices containing normal vital signs, normal laboratory values and abbreviations, as well as an index.
- General internal medicine
- Infectious diseases
- Toxicology
- Neurology and neurosurgery
- Trauma and orthopaedics
- ENT, ophthalmology, and maxillofacial surgery
- General surgery
- Pediatrics
- Critical care
- Obstetrics and gynecology
- Medicolegal medicine
The cases also expose readers to a broad range of investigation modalities, including X-rays, CT, MRI, ultrasound, ECGs, blood investigations, and clinical photographs. The contents specifically identify the imaging or investigation type associated with individual cases.
Key Features
- 70 high-yield emergency medicine cases
- Cases based on real patients seen in a busy London teaching hospital
- Three single-best-answer questions associated with each case
- Question format reflecting postgraduate examination styles
- Clinical photographs and other static clinical images
- Radiographs, CT, and MRI imaging
- Ultrasound material
- ECG traces
- Blood films
- Integrated imaging videos
- QR-code access to selected essential imaging
- Detailed explanations following the questions
- Explicit key learning points following cases
- Coverage of common as well as more complex clinical scenarios
- Appendices covering normal vital signs and laboratory values
- Abbreviation list and index
- A hybrid print-and-digital learning approach
Who Should Read This Book?
Medical Students
Medical students can use the cases to develop the habit of connecting symptoms, examination findings, and investigations. The image-centered format also provides exposure to the types of clinical material encountered during hospital-based training.
Residents and Newly Qualified Doctors
The book is particularly relevant to doctors beginning clinical practice. Its emergency department cases require the reader to interpret clinical information and consider appropriate next steps.
For example, one early case presents a patient with severe metabolic abnormalities and an unusually high lactate, requiring interpretation of blood-gas findings before progressing to ultrasound findings and the underlying diagnosis.
Emergency Medicine Trainees
Emergency medicine trainees can use the cases for focused revision and image interpretation. The questions are structured as single-best-answer questions, while the explanations provide additional discussion around the clinical problem.
Specialists and Experienced Clinicians
The book is not restricted to basic presentations. Its cases include complex and potentially time-critical scenarios. The editors specifically describe the collection as intended to challenge both novice and experienced emergency medicine clinicians.
Nurses and Allied Health Professionals
The introductory description explicitly includes allied health personnel working in emergency and acute settings among the intended readership.
Pharmacists
Pharmacists working within acute-care environments may find the case-based format useful for understanding medication-related presentations and toxicological problems represented within the cases. The book includes toxicology as one of its identified subject areas.
Researchers and Medical Educators
The book may also be relevant to medical educators interested in case-based, image-based, and digitally supported learning. Its origins in a mobile-optimized educational program provide a clear example of how clinical teaching material was adapted for remote learning.
Exam Candidates
The three single-best-answer questions used throughout the cases make the book relevant to examination preparation. The book itself notes that the question style reflects formats encountered in postgraduate examinations.
Why This Book Is Useful
Clinical Relevance
One of the clearest educational strengths of Interactive Cases in Emergency Medicine is its grounding in actual emergency department cases. The editors explain that the cases comprise real patients who presented to their department.
This gives the material a clinical rather than purely theoretical orientation. Readers are repeatedly asked to interpret information as it develops through the case.
Image-Based Learning
Emergency medicine frequently depends on interpreting investigations rapidly. The book therefore places considerable emphasis on visual material.
Its cases use clinical photographs, radiographs, scans, blood films, and ECG traces, while selected CT, MRI, and ultrasound material is available as video through QR codes.
Examination Preparation
Each case contains three single-best-answer questions. This provides a built-in opportunity to test knowledge before reading the explanation.
The approach can support active recall rather than passive reading, particularly when the reader attempts to interpret the case and answer the questions before looking at the explanations.
Learning Efficiency
The individual cases are structured around a specific clinical problem. This makes it possible to use the book in shorter study sessions rather than requiring the reader to progress through a conventional textbook chapter by chapter.
The concise answers were originally designed as stimuli for discussion, while readers are encouraged to explore the cases further.
Practical Clinical Thinking
Several cases illustrate how clinical reasoning depends on combining history, examination, anatomy, investigations, and management decisions.
For example, the case involving a cycling wrist injury progresses from mechanism of injury to radiographic interpretation, neurological assessment, and management of possible median nerve compromise.
Table of Contents Overview
The book contains 70 cases.
Selected cases include:
- A curiously high lactate
- A cycling wrist injury
- A deformed arm after falling on the train
- A gardener’s eye
- A painful foot
- A painful rash
- A smashing Christmas
- Abdominal pain and distension in a child
- Abdominal pain in a heatwave
- Abnormal blood gas
- An elderly patient on warfarin
- An unusual ECG
- Assault
- Blown pupil
- Bradycardia
- Burning chest pain
- Central chest pain
- Chest pain and weakness
- Chest pain in an intravenous drug user
- Complex headache
The middle and later sections include cases involving alcohol excess, HIV, confusion, epigastric pain, trauma, fever, vomiting, vertigo, visual loss, seizures, cardiac arrest, palpitations, sepsis, respiratory distress, stroke-like symptoms, stridor, swollen joints, testicular pain, and neurological emergencies.
The final cases address chest trauma, vomiting with ECG changes, and wound problems. Three appendices provide normal vital signs, normal laboratory values, and abbreviations.
Strengths of the Book
1. Strong Case-Based Structure
The entire book is organized around clinical cases rather than lengthy disease-centered chapters. This keeps the focus on patient assessment and decision-making.
2. Broad Emergency Medicine Coverage
The range of specialties represented is substantial. The topic key includes general internal medicine, infectious diseases, toxicology, neurology and neurosurgery, trauma and orthopaedics, ENT/ophthalmology/maxillofacial surgery, surgery, paediatrics, critical care, obstetrics and gynaecology, and medicolegal medicine.
3. Excellent Use of Clinical Imaging
The integration of radiographs, CT, MRI, ultrasound, ECGs, and clinical images is central to the book's educational design.
4. Examination-Oriented Questions
Three SBA questions per case provide repeated opportunities for self-assessment and examination-style practice.
5. Learning Points
The cases conclude with explicit key learning points, allowing readers to consolidate the most important educational messages.
6. Digital Integration
The QR-code-accessible imaging videos extend the traditional textbook format and were specifically designed to make imaging available in a more interactive way.
Limitations
The book itself does not provide a formal section identifying its limitations, so the following observations are limited to features that can reasonably be identified from its stated design.
First, the book is primarily a case-based learning resource, rather than a comprehensive reference textbook covering every aspect of emergency medicine systematically. Its structure is therefore centered on selected clinical scenarios.
Second, the editors describe the answers as purposely short and originally intended as a stimulus for discussion. Readers seeking exhaustive textbook-style explanations of every disease or management pathway may therefore need additional educational material.
Third, some of the learning experience depends on access to the associated digital imaging through QR codes. The book itself describes these digital resources as an important component of the hybrid learning approach.
Finally, the publisher's medical disclaimer appropriately emphasizes that clinical information should be considered alongside the patient's medical history, current best-practice guidance, relevant formularies, and manufacturer instructions, and that rapidly changing information such as drug doses and procedures should be independently verified.
Comparison With Similar Books
Interactive Cases in Emergency Medicine has a clearly defined educational format: real clinical cases, image interpretation, three SBA questions per case, explanatory answers, key learning points, and supplementary digital imaging. Its stated purpose is to complement traditional print-based learning with digital content and hybrid case-based education.
Readers should therefore understand the book primarily in terms of this case-based and image-focused educational approach rather than as a replacement for a comprehensive emergency medicine reference.
FAQs
Interactive Cases in Emergency Medicine: Learning through Image Interpretation is a 2026 first-edition emergency medicine textbook containing 70 cases based on real patients seen in a busy London teaching hospital. It combines clinical cases with images, imaging videos, SBA questions, and explanatory answers.
The book is edited by Alice Yearwood and Dipak Mistry. Yearwood is identified as an anaesthetic resident in London, while Mistry is a consultant in emergency medicine at University College London Hospital.
The book contains 70 clinical cases covering a broad range of emergency and acute-care presentations.
Yes. Each case is presented with three single-best-answer questions, and the editors state that the format reflects question styles encountered in postgraduate examinations.
Yes. Imaging is one of the book's central educational features. The material includes clinical photographs, radiographs, CT, MRI, ultrasound, ECG traces, and blood films. Selected imaging is also provided as video through QR codes.
The book is designed to challenge both novice and experienced clinicians in emergency medicine. Its case-based format and postgraduate-style SBA questions make it relevant to emergency medicine trainees and doctors preparing for clinical and examination settings.
The topic key identifies general internal medicine, infectious diseases, toxicology, neurology and neurosurgery, trauma and orthopaedics, ENT/ophthalmology/maxillofacial surgery, surgery, paediatrics, critical care, obstetrics and gynaecology, and medicolegal medicine.
The editors explicitly state that the cases are intended to challenge both novice and experienced clinicians in emergency medicine. The collection includes both common and more complex clinical scenarios.
Conclusion
Interactive Cases in Emergency Medicine: Learning through Image Interpretation offers a focused case-based approach to emergency medicine education. Its defining characteristic is the combination of real clinical cases with image interpretation, single-best-answer questions, explanatory answers, key learning points, and supplementary digital imaging.
The Interactive Cases in Emergency Medicine format is particularly relevant to readers who want to practice clinical reasoning rather than simply read disease summaries. The 70 cases span multiple areas of emergency and acute medicine, including internal medicine, infectious diseases, toxicology, neurology, trauma, surgery, pediatrics, and critical care.
Its origins in a mobile-optimized teaching program also give the book a distinctive educational context. The editors developed the material to maintain accessible clinical education when conventional face-to-face teaching was disrupted, subsequently creating a hybrid resource that combines print-based cases with digital imaging.
For medical students, residents, emergency medicine trainees, newly qualified doctors, and other healthcare professionals working in acute settings, the book provides a structured way to practice interpretation of clinical information and investigations. Its examination-style questions additionally make it suitable for active revision.
Overall, the educational value of interactive cases in emergency medicine lies in bringing together realistic patient scenarios, visual clinical data, and question-based learning in one resource. It is best used as a complementary educational tool alongside current clinical guidelines, local protocols, and comprehensive medical references.
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