Trauma Part 12: Ferno Traction application

Traction splint is applied to immobilize a femur fracture. The video below will show you how to apply the traction splint.

Trauma Part 13: Application of SAM Pelvic Sling

The application of SAM Pelvic sling is a force controlled circumferential pelvic sling proven to safely reduce and stabilize open book pelvic fractures. The video will demonstrate on the use.

Trauma Part 11: SAM splint

The use of SAM splints is better described with the following videos:

Trauma Part 10: Use of entonox

At the end of this session, you will be able to
1. State the compositions of entonox
2. State indications and contraindications  
3. Outline the steps administering entonox 

You can see the entonox use in action here

Trauma Part 9: Abdominal and Thoracic trauma

This lecture looks at the anatomy review of abdominal area and thoracic region, discuss the mechanism of injury and patho physiology. Following that, the lecture will discuss the assessment and management of abdominal and thoracic trauma with focus on pelvic fractures 

Trauma Part 8: Soft Tissue Trauma

In this trauma lecture  covering  soft tissue injuries, we looked at the mechanism (Blunt, Penetrating,Burns and Chemical), describe its nature,dimension, position of wounds in relation to anatomical landmarks and the types of soft tissue injuries.

The types of soft tissue injuries include:

• Abrasions 
• Bruises/Contusion 
• Lacerations 
• Incisions 
• Puncture Wounds 
• Bite Marks 
• Defense Injuries

Trauma Part 6: Burns Presentation

In this trauma lecture on burns, we covered:

1. Epidemiology of Burns 

2. Etiology of Burns 

3. Emergency Management and Treatment  

4. Primary and Secondary Surveys 

5. Structure of Skin

6. Rule of Nines 

7. Quantifying Burn Severity

8. Types of Burns

9. Inhalation Burn Injury

10. Systemic Inflammatory Response

11. Fluid Management

12. Ongoing Assessment and Management

Trauma Part 7: Thoracic Trauma

In this lecture, we cover the following topics of thoracic trauma:

• Thoracic anatomy
• Mechanism of injury (Blunt/Penetrating)
• Recognising signs of chest trauma
• Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) Management of Major chest trauma

Trauma Part 4: Neurological bleeding presentation

The following presentation attached discussed various intra cranial bleeding presentations:
- Subdural Hematoma: resulted from a severe acceleration to deceleration occurs leading to the veins in the sub dural space tearing. CT scan will show a concave shape
- Epidural Hematoma occurs from direct trauma to the brain leading to bleeding in the meningeal artery.  CT scan will show a biconvex shape 
- Intraparenchymal hemorrhage (IPH) is one extension of intracerebral hemorrhage (the other is intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH)) with bleeding within brain parenchyma
- Diffuse Axonal Brain Injury is the result of traumatic shearing forces that occur when the head is rapidly accelerated or decelerated, as may occur in auto accidents, falls, and assaults. It usually results from rotational forces or severe deceleration.

Patient monitoring part 4: Use of Philips MP30

Philips MP30 is being used in the emergency department for the purpose of patient monitoring.

The detailed manual on how to use the machine is available here.

Trauma Part 5: Glasgow Coma Scale

In the management of traumatic brain injuries, the most common nursing tool used is Glasgow Coma Scale( GCS) scoring. This is to measure three areas of  Central Nervous System (CNS) 
- Eye Opening Response (E) 
- Verbal Response (V) 
- Motor Response (M)

For more detailed discussion of GCS scoring, download the presentation.

Trauma Part 3: Traumatic Brain Injury

The goals of treatment for a patient with significant head injury would be to limit or prevent - 
• Hypoxia
• Hypercarbia
• Hypotension 
• Hypovolemia 
• Hypoglycemia
• Hyponatremia or Hypernatremia
• Hyperthermia

For more detailed discussion of the primary survey and secondary survey of managing traumatic brain injuries, download the presentation.

Trauma Part 2: Trauma Resuscitation

For a trauma resuscitation to be successful, team work is crucial. Each team member of the trauma team speak the same language and know their roles and responsibilities. The same language is the trauma algorithm which is similar to basic life support.


For more detailed discussion of the trauma team organisation, primary survey and secondary survey, click here and download the presentation.

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.