Wheezy and breathless young woman
PLAB 2 practice station
Acute management · 1 min to read · 8 min to perform
Try a real conversation · PLAB 2AI practice
Assess and treat her, and explain your plan.
Priyanka NairI cannot... get my breath. My inhaler... is not working.
Free · no sign-up · uses your one free station
Open the full station (charts, voice, result letter) →The task
You are a doctor in the emergency department. Ms Priyanka Nair, aged 27, has arrived by car with her flatmate, struggling to breathe. She is in a cubicle and sitting forward. A nurse is with you and will carry out your requests. Assess and treat her, and explain your plan. The examiner will report any findings you ask for. The examiner will not take part in the conversation.
What this station tests
- Grade severity with objective measures: peak flow, saturation, pulse, respiratory rate and ability to speak.
- Oxygen-driven salbutamol, oxygen to 94 to 98 per cent and prednisolone 40 to 50 mg are first-line.
- Know the life-threatening signs: silent chest, exhaustion, confusion, saturations under 92 per cent, peak flow under 33 per cent.
- Previous intensive care or running out of a preventer inhaler raises risk of a fatal attack.
- Call 2222 and a senior early; speak calmly and in short sentences.
Sources for the clinical content
- British Thoracic Society and SIGN: British guideline on the management of asthma (SIGN 158)
- NICE NG245: Asthma: diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management (BTS, NICE, SIGN)
- Resuscitation Council UK: The ABCDE approach
An original practice scenario with invented patients. Not an exam question.