[Medical emergencies in daily dermatological practice].

Many patients and their companions who present daily in dermatological clinics and private practices may have numerous non-dermatological comorbidities, which can cause medical emergencies. Additionally several dermatologic diagnostic or therapeutic procedures which are commonly performed can cause life-threatening complications. Therefore dermatologists can be confronted with acute medical emergencies at any time. Mostly these are internal medicine emergencies. Therefore dermatologists must have the basic emergency medical knowledge; emergency situations should be practiced regularly and this training documented for quality control measures. Every practice must be able to deliver life-saving care until trained emergency medical personnel arrive. The general emergency procedures are presented below and the practical approach is illustrated at different cardinal symptoms such as impaired consciousness, respiratory disorders or cardiocirculatory disorders.