Case 2

A 38 year old woman who is 36 weeks pregnant, presents to the emergency department with acute confusion and a severe headache. Her blood pressure at triage is 168/105, her heart rate is 103, her O2 sats are 98% on room air, her respiratory rate is 22 and her temperature is 36.7. Her friend who brought her in to the department says that she has only attended about half of her antenatal appointments with her maternity hospital and none with her GP.

She is brought into resus for immediate assessment. On arrival in resus she starts to seize

Question 1

What is condition is this woman suffering from?

Question 2

What other symptoms may she have been experiencing recently?

Question 3

How should you approach your assessment and initial management of this patient?