Damage Control Resuscitation Principles Adapted for EMS Civilian Trauma

You and your partner are dispatched to the scene of a rural motor vehicle collision. After a 35-minute response, you arrive on scene to find a single patient who was involved in a vehicle rollover on a state highway. The driver is unrestrained and still in the vehicle. The vehicle shows a large amount of external damage. The patient is awake and alert but complaining of abdominal pain. Volunteer fire department personnel have placed him in a C-collar prior to your arrival and are extricating him on a long backboard to ease movement from the roadside ditch to your gurney. As the patient is removed from the backboard, you begin your assessment. You find a 19-year-old male who shows no signs of serious head trauma and reports the accident occurred when he "swerved to miss a bunny rabbit." The young man's chest is clear to auscultation. His chest wall is stable but mildly tender to palpitation. His heart sounds tachycardic. He has a strong carotid pulse. As you finish your primary assessment, your partner reports vitals: heart rate of 115, blood pressure 100/65 mmHg, pulse oximeter 98%, temperature 37 degrees C. Your partner sets the blood pressure cuff to cycle every five minutes and establishes IV access. Upon physical examination you find the patient's abdomen is rigid with marked tenderness in the left upper quadrant. His extremities show abrasions to his left upper leg and left forearm. No other apparent injury is noted. The patient moves all four extremities on co...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Trauma Source Type: news