RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 The assessment of headaches on the acute medical unit: is it adequate and how could it be improved?  JF Clinical Medicine JO Clin Med FD Royal College of Physicians SP 114 OP 120 DO 10.7861/clinmedicine.17-2-114 VO 17 IS 2 A1 Sophie Binks A1 Anna Nagy A1 Jeban Ganesalingam A1 Abarna Ratnarajah YR 2017 UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/17/2/114.abstract AB Neurological emergencies represent 15–25% of the medical take, second only to cardiac and respiratory cases. However, the UK's number of neurologists is lower than that of other developed nations. This quality improvement project aimed to develop a guideline to optimise acute headache management by non-specialists, informed by the findings of a survey and audit of doctors’ knowledge and practice. In total, 62 doctors responded to our survey. 53/56 (94.6%) agreed a guideline would be useful. Knowledge of some important causes of headache was high, but was lower for others, including cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and cervical artery dissection. A consultant neurologist deemed 14/27 (51.9%) of acute headache presentations audited pre-guidelines to have had appropriate management. After guideline launch, a re-audit demonstrated this proportion was 18/22 (81.8%) (p=0.04). We conclude the investigation and management of acute headache requires optimisation and a guideline may help to achieve this.