Trauma Guidelines

The Trauma Services staff and surgeons wish to thank everyone who contributed to the development of these guidelines, which contain clinical principles and educational tools for the management of the trauma patient and the performance of procedures. In no way are they intended to be limited approaches to the problems presented to the trauma team. The care provided to each patient should be individualized to fit the particular needs of the patient and the available resources.

Purpose and Goals:

In medicine, few situations can be as complex or foreboding as the management of the injured patient. The successful outcome for a seriously injured patient is determined by the level of skills of the resuscitating team, the speed and teamwork with which the resuscitation is carried out, and the precision of the diagnosis and treatment used.

At Deaconess, we pledge to provide outstanding care to those in our community and beyond who depend on us when they have been injured. In order to fulfill this commitment, all members of the Trauma Program must work together to continuously upgrade their skills. Since there are many rotating physicians who are involved with the Trauma Program, one of the best ways to ensure optimal care is the standardization of all techniques utilized in the resuscitation and in the continuing care of the injured patient.

These guidelines were written to accomplish the following goals:

1. To improve the delivery of resuscitation care to the trauma patient.
2. To aid in the appropriate utilization of resources.
3. To help in the orientation of new physicians and rapidly apprise them of their roles on the Trauma Team.
4. To optimize resuscitation teamwork between surgeons and ED physicians.
5. To demonstrate to the community that Deaconess functions smoothly and efficiently, thereby encouraging the proper utilization of our services.
6. To provide a “model” system of resuscitation for other regional trauma programs.

For the purposes of these guidelines, we shall assume that the Trauma Team is notified for patients who have multiple injuries and are unstable. It is important to remember that the resuscitation scheme should be implemented for all patients who appear to meet the criteria and with assumption that each patient is potentially critically injured. If the injuries are found to be less severe, then the resuscitation protocols can be modified accordingly.