Primary survey: highlights from this issue

Welcome to the August 2024 issue of Emergency Medicine Journal . August is a time of new beginnings with newly qualified doctors and those promoted to postgraduate specialty training schemes commencing work in our emergency departments (EDs). Welcome to our new valued colleagues! Don’t forget the EMJ Podcast—a fantastic source of digestible evidence base updates. This issue presents a sober and mature reflection on some of the real-life issues we face in emergency medicine including violence in the ED and implementation of evidenced based medicine as well as a dedicated section to paediatric emergencies. Having worked in EDs in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, I am fortunate to have never encountered a ‘mass violence event’ in real life. Looking across at the USA and Mexico, such events are unfortunately not rare. Magos-Vázquez et al describe 18 active shooter situations and 1 bomb threat in Guanajuato state public hospitals (located mostly in EDs) between 2018 and 2023. The authors go on to describe the training healthcare personnel receive on violence-related preparedness and management of active shooter events and how this appears …