The Trauma Pro

APRIL 5, 2024

The American College of Surgeons requires all US Trauma Centers to publish a call schedule that includes a backup trauma surgeon. This is important for several reasons: It maintains a high level of care when the on-call surgeon is encumbered with multiple critical patients, or has other on-call responsibilities such as acute care surgery It reduces the need to place the entire trauma center on divert due to surgeon issues However, the ACS does not provide any guidance regarding the criteria for

Operations 113

Operations Resuscitation Hospitals 113

The Trauma Pro

APRIL 2, 2024

Extraperitoneal rectal injury repair has evolved considerably over the past 40 years. Way back when, this injury automatically triggered exploration, diverting colostomy with washout of the distal colon, and presacral drain insertion (remember those?). We eventually backed off on the presacral drains (pun intended), which didn’t make a lot of sense anyway.

Wellness 147

Wellness 147

The Trauma Pro

MARCH 28, 2024

IVC filter insertion has been one of the available tools for preventing pulmonary embolism for decades—or so we thought. Its popularity has swung back and forth over the years and has been in the waning stage for quite some time now. This pendulum-like motion offers an opportunity to study effectiveness when coupled with some of the large datasets that are now available to us.

Hospitals 260

Hospitals 260

The Trauma Pro

MARCH 25, 2024

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is the newest shiny toy. The best-known example, ChatGPT, burst onto the scene in November 2022 and caught most of us off guard. The earliest versions were interesting and showed great promise for a variety of applications. The easiest way to think about this technology is to compare it to the auto-complete feature in your search engine.

Research 258

Research Radiology Radiology Academics 258

The Trauma Pro

MARCH 21, 2024

In the last two posts, I discussed the size of your trauma bay and how to measure it. This can obviously be helpful if you are updating or building new resuscitation rooms. But what about all the stuff that goes into it? Where is the best place to put it? If you are in the enviable position of being able to stock a brand-new room, here are some tips.

Resuscitation 261

Resuscitation Pediatrics 261

The Trauma Pro

MARCH 18, 2024

In my last post, I detailed some standard info on trauma bay size. Today, I’ll describe what I found when I brought in my trusty tape measure a few years ago to check out the old trauma bays at Regions Hospital. I came up with several helpful measurements to help gauge the relative utility of the rooms. Here are the indices that I came up with: TBTA: Trauma Bay Total Area.

Resuscitation 147

Resuscitation Hospitals 147

The Trauma Pro

MARCH 14, 2024

Trauma professionals are never satisfied with the size of their trauma bay. Today, I’ll write about optimal trauma bay size. Next week, I’ll describe my system for quantifying the space in your trauma bay and address the equipment layout in your resuscitation room. Trauma resuscitation rooms vary tremendously. They can range from very spacious… to very tight… Most trauma bays that I have visited were somewhere between 225 and 300 square feet (21-28 sq meters), although some were quit

Resuscitation 162

Resuscitation Documentation/Coding Hospitals 162

The Trauma Pro

MARCH 8, 2024

Medicine, in general, and trauma care, specifically, require frequent communication. These communications may be between two providers to maintain continuity of care or between providers and patients to explain it. Unfortunately, the Joint Commission has identified breakdowns in the process as a root cause of preventable events and a significant factor in preventable death.

EMS 147

EMS Wellness 147

The Trauma Pro

MARCH 5, 2024

Damage control surgery is now over 30 years old! We continue to refine the techniques and closure techniques/devices, and have developed novel ways to speed closure of the abdominal wall in order to avoid pesky hernias. But the process itself is time intensive, and typically several days pass with regular returns to OR until closure is achieved. This is one of the prime areas in which human error can occur , especially with modern service-style coverage of trauma patients.

Leadership 147

Leadership Operations Hospitals Wellness 147

The Trauma Pro

MARCH 1, 2024

Seriously injured patients frequently develop coagulopathy, which makes resuscitation (and survival) more challenging. A few years ago, the CRASH-2 study lent support for using tranexamic acid (TXA) in select trauma patients to improve survival. This drug is cheap and has antifibrinolytic properties that may be beneficial if given for life-threatening bleeding within 3 hours of initial injury.

Military 279

Military Resuscitation Administration Hospitals 279

The Trauma Pro

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Intraosseous (IO) lines are a godsend when we are faced with a patient who desperately needs access but has no veins. The tibia is generally easy to locate and the landmarks for insertion are straightforward. They are so easy to insert and use, we sometimes “set it and forget it”, in the words of infomercial guru Ron Popeil. But complications are possible.

Fractures 263

Fractures 263

The Trauma Pro

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Kids are frequent flyers when it comes to abdominal injury, with about 15% of their injuries involving this anatomic area. Solid organ injuries, mainly the liver and spleen, are the most prevalent ones. The American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) published a practice guideline way back in 2000 that outlined a consistent way to care for children with solid organ injuries.

Pediatrics 259

Pediatrics Hospitals Resuscitation 259

The Trauma Pro

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Let’s look at an uncommon scenario that crops up from time to time. Most seasoned trauma professionals have seen this one a time or two: An elderly male is driving on a sunny afternoon, and crashes his car into a highway divider at 25 miles per hour. EMS responds and notes that he has a few facial lacerations, is awake but confused. They note some possible facial asymmetry and perhaps a bit of upper extremity weakness.

Documentation/Coding 278

Documentation/Coding Stroke EMS 278

The Trauma Pro

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Here’s a post from my archive describing a different way to remove the foreign body. This is the technique I used, instead of the standard neck incision. The final incision was just a slight extension of the puncture wound, measuring only 1cm. I was able to grasp the head and pull it out without difficulty. The surprising thing to me was the amount of force I needed to apply to actually pull it out!

Wellness 147

Wellness 147

The Trauma Pro

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

We’ve made sure that our victim of the nail gun to the neck did not need an emergent operation. Vitals are stable, there’s no uncontrolled hemorrhage, and the patient is neurologically intact. We’ve imaged him using CT angiography, and the nail does not appear to have injured any vital structures. How do we get it out of there? There are two things that need to be considered: where and how.

Operations 147

Operations 147

The Trauma Pro

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

This case involves an accidental nail gun injury to the neck. The patient is hemodynamically stable, neurologically intact, the airway is patent and not threatened, and there is no apparent hematoma. There is a small puncture near the sternocleidomastoid muscle on the right, fairly high on the neck. The nail is not palpable on either side. And the patient only complains of a little discomfort when he swallows.

Wellness 147

Wellness 147

The Trauma Pro

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Here’s a very interesting case for you. A construction worker was carrying an object inside a building WHILE HOLDING HIS NAIL GUN! As he passed through the door, his elbow hit the frame and he brushed his neck with the business end of the gun. Guess what happened? He experienced sharp pain, then noted pain every time he swallowed. He checked himself out in the mirror, and there was a small puncture wound in the right side of his neck.

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147

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 29, 2024

You’re running a trauma activation, and everything is going great! Primary survey – passed. Resuscitation – lines in, fluid going. You are well into the exam in the secondary survey. Then it happens. The automated blood pressure cuff shows a pressure of 72/44. But the patient looks so good! You recycle the cuff. A minute passes and another low pressure is noted, 80/52.

Resuscitation 113

Resuscitation Wellness 113

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 25, 2024

Yesterday, I described how the typical automated oscillometric blood pressure cuff works. We rely on this workhorse piece of equipment for nearly all pressure determinations outside of the intensive care unit. So the obvious question is, “is it accurate?” Interestingly, there are not very many good papers that have ever looked at this! However, this simple question was addressed by a group at Harvard back in 2013.

Shock 147

Shock 147

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 22, 2024

The blood pressure cuff is one of those devices trauma professionals don’t give a second thought to. Old timers like me remember using the cuff with a sphygmomanometer and stethoscope to get manual blood pressures. I’ve had to do this twice in recent months on airplanes, and I had forgotten how much work this is. But technology makes things easier for us.

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147

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 12, 2024

In theory, tiered trauma centers should allow patients with lesser injuries to be treated at lower levels and more severe trauma at higher-level centers. This parallels the resource availability at those centers. In reality, many patients with injuries that seem complex (solid organ, children, and TBI) are transferred due to a “lack of comfort” in taking care of them or the perception that they may deteriorate quickly.

EMS 278

EMS Hospitals 278

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 11, 2024

The pendulum has swung from the use of whole blood in the early 20th century, to component therapy in the 1960s, and now a gradual move toward incorporating whole blood again. More and more papers are being published, and many trauma centers are looking for ways to integrate whole blood into their massive transfusion protocols. Much of the literature has been dedicated to safety and effectiveness, but little has examined thrombotic complications from its use.

Resuscitation 264

Resuscitation Fractures Shock 264

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 10, 2024

Airway assessment and protection are of paramount importance during trauma care. Airway management is even more challenging in the prehospital environment, where lighting and patient positioning may be suboptimal, and injuries or policies may prohibit orotracheal intubation. A variety of devices have been developed to make airway control simpler and faster.

Airway Management 147

Airway Management Hospitals 147

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 9, 2024

Injured older adults typically sustain those injuries from blunt mechanisms. Radiographic evaluation, particularly CT scans, does not have good supporting literature to dictate which exams should be used in particular patients. There is a long-standing debate on the merits of pan-scan vs. selective scans when using CT. EAST sponsored a multicenter study to look for specific history and physical exam findings that could help direct CT evaluation.

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147

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 8, 2024

Focused abdominal sonography for trauma (FAST) has been a mainstay of rapid diagnosis for many years. The extended FAST exam (eFAST) adds an examination of the thoracic cavities to the basic exam. The sensitivity and specificity of FAST have mostly been determined. However, there is much less literature outlining the accuracy of the eFAST. The group at Vanderbilt performed a prospective, observational study on the ability of the eFAST exam to detect pneumothorax specifically.

Ultrasounds 147

Ultrasounds Fractures 147

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 5, 2024

One of the potential complications of chest trauma causing hemothorax is the retained hemothorax. In most patients, retained blood slowly lyses and is reabsorbed. But a few do not, and scarring can occur that entraps the lung and interferes with pulmonary function. This can ultimately require a VATS or thoracotomy to resolve. Several protocols have been developed to try to prevent a retained hemothorax.

Hospitals 173

Hospitals Wellness Outcomes 173

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 4, 2024

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) after trauma in adults has generated a considerable body of literature for guidance. However, there is much less information available regarding pediatric trauma. High-risk criteria for pediatric VTE after trauma have recently been released. These criteria have not yet been evaluated prospectively or coupled with the administration of chemoprophylaxis.

Pediatrics 162

Pediatrics Administration 162

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 3, 2024

Coagulopathy is the bane of every trauma professional. Trauma patients are bleeding to death until proven otherwise, and once they start bleeding, it only gets worse. A key component of this issue is the presence of fibrinolysis, which commonly occurs after severe trauma. Although the prime objective in managing these patients is definitive control of bleeding, antifibrinolytic therapy such as tranexamic acid (TXA) may be beneficial during the time before that can happen.

Shock 147

Shock Operations Administration Hospitals 147

The Trauma Pro

JANUARY 2, 2024

The use of elevated mean arterial pressure (MAP) to help manage spinal cord injury has been a mainstay of treatment for years. The concept is similar to that used for management of severe traumatic brain injury. The theory is that there may be areas of the brain that are damaged, but not irretrievably so. Increasing MAP should improve perfusion and may protect areas in jeopardy from secondary injury.

Outcomes 264

Outcomes Hospitals 264

The Trauma Pro

DECEMBER 29, 2023

The 37th Annual Assembly of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma is just around the corner! And, as in previous years, I will be publishing regular posts on some of the abstracts I find the most interesting. Here are some of the topics I’ve selected: MAP and spinal cord injury VTE in pediatric patients Chest irrigation and retained hemothorax Accuracy of eFAST More on the 35mm rule for pneumothorax Pan-scanning and missed injuries King Airway vs i-Gel Airway Whole blood transf

Blood Transfusions 264

Blood Transfusions Pediatrics 264

The Trauma Pro

DECEMBER 26, 2023

Everyone knows that venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a potential problem in hospitalized patients, and especially so in trauma patients. Several groups of them are at higher risk by virtue of the particular injuries they have sustained and the activity restriction caused. Nearly every trauma program uses some form of screening and prophylaxis in an attempt to reduce the occurrence of this problem, which can result in deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and/or pulmonary embolism (PE).

Documentation/Coding 162

Documentation/Coding Fractures Hospitals Research 162

The Trauma Pro

DECEMBER 22, 2023

As I was browsing through my journal list this week, I ran into an interesting title for an article that is currently in press. “The use of radio-opaque markers is medical dogma” Catchy, especially since I love writing about dogma vs what is really supported by the literature. The author questions the justification of this practice and posits that there are risks to extrapolating information based on radiographs with markers placed by the trauma team.

Operations 264

Operations Outcomes 264

The Trauma Pro

DECEMBER 19, 2023

In my last post, I discussed the growing number of choices for plasma replacement. Today I’ll look at some work that was done that tried to determine if any one of them is better than the others when used for the massive transfusion protocol (MTP). As noted last time, fresh frozen plasma (frozen within 8 hours, FFP) and frozen plasma (frozen within 24 hours, FP) have a shelf life of 5 days once thawed.

Military 147

Military Hospitals Resuscitation 147

The Trauma Pro

DECEMBER 15, 2023

I’ll spend the next two posts discussing plasma. This is an important component of any trauma center’s massive transfusion protocol (MTP). Coagulopathy is the enemy of any seriously injured patient, and this product is used to attempt to fix that problem. And now there are two flavors available: liquid plasma and fresh frozen plasma. But there is often confusion when discussing these products, especially when there are really three flavors!

Hospitals 147

Hospitals Resuscitation 147

The Trauma Pro

DECEMBER 12, 2023

Level I and II trauma centers are frequently asked to accept patients who need a higher level of care. This necessitates an inter-hospital transfer that is subject to scrutiny by the trauma performance improvement program of both trauma centers. The practice at many centers is to bring all transfer patients in through the emergency department. But is this really necessary?

Emergency Department 162

Emergency Department Operations Hospitals Radiology 162

The Trauma Pro

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Blunt cardiac injury can be an enigma. Significant injuries are uncommon, and the literature on it consists of case reports and small series. The group at Scripps La Jolla has an excellent review article on the topic that is currently in press. This post will relate some of the key points in this nicely prepared article. Use the correct nomenclature.

EKG/ECG 264

EKG/ECG 264

The Trauma Pro

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

The November issue of the Trauma MedEd newsletter will be sent out soon! It’s chock full of tips and tricks dealing with trauma practice guidelines This issue is being released over the weekend. If you are already a subscriber, you will receive it automatically. If not and you sign up any time before then, you will receive it, too. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until it goes out to the general public a week or two later.

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