Trauma Part 1: Over view

Injury is one of the commonest causes of morbidity and mortality in the ages between 1 to 40 years.1 InSingapore, injuries ranked as the fifth commonest cause of death after cancer, heart disease, cerebrovasculardisease and pneumonia.The Ministry of Health formed a steering committee on Trauma Management in 1992. The committee studied the various components, namely, pre-hospital care, accident and emergency services, in-patient care,rehabilitation, trauma data collection, quality assurance, training and education. It concluded thatthere were major deficiencies in various phases of trauma care.

(quoted from: Injury related deaths in Singapore, by MKF Leong, S Mujumdar, L Raman, YH Lim, TC Chao, V Anantharaman)

Using a systematic approach, the trauma assessment is broken down into two stages: primary and secondary assessment. The primary assessment is carried out using the 'ABCD' of the Advanced Trauma Life Support course run by the Royal College of Surgeons. The secondary assessment involves the exposure and examination of the patient for non life-threatening injury (E).

(quoted from: Nursing times: Trauma Assessment)

The attached article for download discussed the detailed initial approach towards trauma patient assessment.

Click here to download the article.