Ch.25 Trauma Overview Flashcards
Arterial air embolism
Air bubbles in the arterial blood vessels.
Blunt trauma
An impact on the body by objects that cause injury without penetrating soft tissues or internal organs and cavities.
Cavitation
A phenomenon in which speed causes a bullet to generate pressure waves, which cause damage distant from the bullet’s path.
Coup-countrecoup brain injury
A brain injury that occurs when force is applied to the head and entergy transmission through brain tissue causes injury on the opposite side of original impact.
Deceleration
The slowing of an object
Drag
Resistance that slows a projectile, such as air.
Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score
An evaluation tool used to determine level of consciousness, which evaluates and assigns point values (scores) for eye opening, verbal response, and motor response, which are then totaled; effective in helping predict patient outcomes.
Index of suspicion
Awareness that unseen life-threatening injuries may exist when determining the mechanism of injury.
Kinetic energy
The energy of a moving object
Mechanism of injury (MOI)
The forces, or energy tranmission, applied to the body that cause injury.
Medical emergencies
Emergencies that require EMS attention because of illness or conditions not caused by an outside force.
Multisystem trauma
Trauma that affects more than one body system.
Penetrating trauma
Injury caused by objects, such as knives and bullets, that pierce the surface of the body and damage internal tissues and organs.
Potential energy
The product of mass, gravity, and height, which is converted to kinetic egergy and results in injury, such as from a fall.
Projectile
Any object propelled by force, such as a bullet by a weapon.
Pulmonary blast injuries
Pulmonary trauma resulting from short-range exposure to detonation of explosives.
Revised Trauma Score (RTS)
A scoring system used for patients with head trauma.
Trajectory
The path a projectile takes once it is propelled.
Trauma Emergencies
Emergencies that are the result of physical forces applied to a patient’s body.
Trauma score
A score calculated from one to 16, with 16 being the best possible score. It relates to the likelihood of patient survival with the exeption of a severe head injury. It takes into account the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, respiratory rate, respiratory expansion, systolic blood pressure, and capillary refill.
Tympanic membrane
The eardrum; a thin, semitransparent membrane in the middle of the ear that transmit sound vibrations to the internal ear by means of auditory ossicles.
Work
The measure of force over distance.
