Trauma Flashcards
What widely accepted protocol does trauma care in the US follow?
Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS)
What are the 3 main elements of the ATLS protocol?
- Primary survey/resuscitation
- Secondary survey
- Definitive care
According to ATLS protocol, how and when should the patient history be obtained?
It should be obtained while completing the primary survey, often the rescue squad, witnesses, and family members must be relied upon
What are the 5 steps of the primary survey?
ABCDEs:
Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure and Environment
What principles are followed in completing the primary survey?
Life-threatening problems discovered during the primary survey are always addressed before proceeding to the next step
What are the goals during assessment of the airway?
Securing the airway and protecting the spinal cord
In addition to the airway, what must be considered during the airway step?
Spinal immobilization
What comprises spinal immobilization?
Use of a full backboard and rigid cervical collar
In an alert patient, what is the quickest test for an adequate airway?
Ask a question: If the patient can speak, the airway is intact
What is the first maneuver used to establish an airway?
Chin lift, jaw thrust, or both.
If successful, often an oral or nasal airway can be used to temporarily maintain the airway.
If oral and nasal airways are unsuccessful, what is the next maneuver used to establish an airway?
Endotracheal intubation
If endotracheal intubation is unsuccessful, what is the definitive airway?
Cricothyroidotomy:
Incise the the cricothyroid membrane between the cricoid cartilage inferiorly and the thyroid cartilage superiorly and place an endotracheal or tracheostomy tube into the trachea.
What must always be kept in mind during difficult attempts to establish an airway?
Spinal immobilization and adequate oxygenation.
If at all possible, patients must be adequately ventilated with 100% oxygen using a bag and mask before any attempt to establish an airway.
What are the goals in assessing breathing?
- Securing oxygenation and ventilation
2. Treating life-threatening thoracic injuries
What comprises adequate assessment of breathing?
Inspection (air movement, RR, cyanosis, tracheal shift, JVD, asymmetric chest expansion, use of accessory muscles of respiration, open chest wounds).
Auscultation (breath sounds).
Percussion (hyperresonance or dullness over either lung field)
Palpation (presence of subcutaneous emphysema, flail segments)
What are the life-threatening conditions that must be diagnosed and treated during the breathing step?
Tension PTX, open PTX, massive hemothorax
What is a pneumothorax?
Injury to the lung, resulting in release of air into the pleural space between the normally apposed parietal and visceral pleura
How is a pneumothorax diagnosed?
Tension PTX is a clinical diagnosis: dyspnea, JVD, tachypnea, anxiety, pleuritic chest pain, unilateral decreased or absent breath sounds, tracheal shift away from affected side, hyperresonance on the affected side
What is the treatment of a tension PTX?
Rapid thoracostomy incision or immediate decompression by needle thoracostomy in the 2nd intercostal space midclavicular line, followed by tube thoracostomy place in the anterior/midaxillary line in the 4th intercostal space
What is the medical term for a sucking chest wound?
Open PTX
What is a tube thoracostomy?
Chest tube
How is an open PTX diagnosed?
Usually obvious, with air movement through a chest wall defect and PTX on CXR
How is an open PTX treated?
Tube thoracostomy, occlusive dressing over chest wall defect
What does a PTX look like on CXR?
Loss of lung markings
What is a flail chest?
Two separate fractures in 3+ consecutive ribs
How is a flail chest diagnosed?
Flail segment of chest wall that moves paradoxically (sucks in with inspiration and pushes out with expiration opposite the rest of the chest wall)
What is the major cause of respiratory compromise with flail chest?
Underlying pulmonary contusion
What is the treatment for flail chest?
Intubation with positive pressure ventilation and PEEP PRN
What is cardiac tamponade?
Bleeding into the pericardial sac, resulting in constriction of the heart, decreasing inflow and resulting in decreased cardiac output
What are the signs and symptoms of cardiac tamponade?
Tachycardia and shock with Beck’s triad, pulsus paradoxus, Kussmaul’s sign
What is Beck’s triad?
- Hypotension
- Muffled heart sounds
- JVD
What is Kussmaul’s sign?
JVD with inspiration
How is cardiac tamponade diagnosed?
U/S
What is the treatment for cardiac tamponade?
Pericardial window (if blood returns, then median sternotomy to rule out and treat cardiac injury)
How is a massive hemothorax diagnosed?
Unilaterally decreased or absent breath sounds; dullness to percussion; CXR; CT; chest tube output
What is the treatment for a massive hemothorax?
Volume replacement; tube thoracostomy; removal of the blood
What are the indications for emergent thoracotomy for hemothorax?
- > 1500 cc of blood on initial placement of chest tube
2. Persistent > 200 cc/hr blood loss for 4 hours
What are the goals in assessing circulation?
- Securing adequate tissue perfusion
2. Treatment of external bleeding
What is the initial test for adequate circulation?
Palpation of pulses
What comprises adequate assessment of circulation?
HR, BP, peripheral perfusion, UO, mental status, capillary refill, skin (cold, clammy means hypovolemia)
Who can be hypovolemic with normal BP?
Young patients (autonomic tone can maintain BP until cardiovascular collapse is imminent)
Which patients may not mount a tachycardic response to hypovolemic shock?
Those with concomitant spinal cord injuries; beta-blockers; well-conditioned athletes
How are sites of external bleeding treated?
By direct pressure +/- tourniquets
What is the best and preferred IV access in the trauma patient?
Two large-bore IVs (14-16 gauge), IV catheters in the upper extremities
What are alternative sites of IV access?
Percutaneous and cutdown catheters in the saphenous vein; central access (femoral, jugular, subclavian veins)
What is the trauma resuscitation fluid of choice?
LR (lactate helps buffer the hypovolemia-induced metabolic acidosis)
What types of decompression do trauma patients receive?
Gastric decompression with an NG tube and Foley catheter bladder decompression after normal rectal exam
What are the contraindications to placement of a Foley?
- Signs of urethral injury
- Severe pelvic fracture in men
- Blood at the urethral meatus
- High-riding ballotable prostate
- Scrotal/perineal injury or ecchymosis
What test should be obtained prior to placing a Foley catheter if urethral injury is suspected?
RUG (retrograde urethrogram): dye in penis retrograde to the bladder and XR looking for extravasation of dye
How is gastric decompression achieved with a maxillofacial fracture?
OG tube (NG tube may perforate through the cribriform plate)
What are the goals in assessing disability?
Determination of neurologic injury
What comprises adequate assessment of disability?
- Mental status (Glasgow Coma Scale)
- Pupils (blown pupil suggest ipsilateral brain mass as herniation of the brain compresses CN III)
- Motor/sensory (lateralizing extremity movement, sensory deficits)
What are the 3 parts of the GCS scoring system?
- Eye opening
- Motor response
- Verbal response
How is eye opening scored in the GCS system?
- Opens spontaneously
- Opens to voice
- Opens to painful stimulus
- Does not open eyes
How is motor response scored in the GCS system?
- Obeys commands
- Localizes painful stimulus
- Withdraws from pain
- Decorticate posture
- Decerebrate posture
- No movement
How is the verbal response scored in the GCS system?
- Appropriate and oriented
- Confused
- Inappropriate words
- Incomprehensible sounds
- No sounds
What is a normal human GCS?
GCS 15
What is the GCS score of a dead man?
GCS 3
What is the GCS score for a patient in a coma
GCS 8 or lower
How does GCS scoring differ if the patient is intubated?
Verbal evaluation is omitted and replaced with a T (hence the highest score for an intubated patient is 11 T)
What are the goals in obtaining adequate exposure?
Complete disrobing to allow a thorough visual inspection and digital palpation of the patient during the secondary survey
What is the “environment” in ABCDEs?
Keep a warm environment (hypothermic patient can become coagulopathic)
What principle is followed in completing the secondary survey?
Complete physical, including all orifices (ears, nose, mouth, vagina, rectum)
Why look in the ears during the secondary survey?
Hemotympanum and otorrhea are both signs of basilar skull fracture