Ch. 24 Trauma Overview

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering Chapter 24: Trauma Overview, including Newton's laws, collision physics, vehicular impact mechanics, penetrating ballistics, blast injury categories, trauma triage criteria, and trauma center capabilities.

Traumatic Injury

An injury that occurs when the body's tissues are exposed to energy levels beyond their tolerance.

Mechanism of Injury (MOI)

The way traumatic injuries occur, describing the physical forces acting on the body that cause injury.

Kinetic Energy (KE)

The energy of a moving object, calculated as $\text{KE} = \frac{1}{2}\,\text{mass} \times \text{velocity}^2$. An increase in velocity has a far greater effect on kinetic energy than an equivalent increase in mass.

Potential Energy

The stored energy of an object calculated as the product of its mass (weight), the force of gravity, and height, mostly associated with falling objects.

Newton's First Law

The principle of motion stating that objects at rest tend to stay at rest and objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.

Newton's Second Law

The principle of motion stating that force equals mass times acceleration ($F = m \times a$), demonstrating that bodily injury is caused by a sudden change in velocity rather than speed itself.

Newton's Third Law

The physical law stating that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Blunt Trauma

The result of physical force applied to the body that causes injury without penetrating soft tissues or opening body cavities.

Penetrating Trauma

Injury caused by foreign objects that pierce the surface of the body, cutting through soft tissues, internal organs, and body cavities.

Significant MOI

Mechanisms associated with severe hidden or obvious trauma, including falls from heights $> 10\,\text{ft}\,(3\,\text{m})$, vehicle crashes with ejection, passenger compartment intrusion, death in the vehicle, or unbelted occupants younger than 9 years of age.

First Collision

The initial collision in a motor vehicle crash in which the vehicle impacts another car, tree, or fixed object.

Second Collision

The impact in a motor vehicle crash where the occupant strikes the vehicle's interior surfaces, commonly resulting in flail chest, lower extremity fractures, and head trauma.

Third Collision

The internal impact in a motor vehicle crash where the occupant's internal organs collide with the solid walls of body cavities (e.g., brain compression against the skull or aortic tearing).

Crumple Zone

Structural crush areas engineered into the front and rear of a motor vehicle that deform upon impact to dissipate kinetic energy before it reaches the passenger cage.

Dashboard Impact (Second Collision)

A frontal collision mechanism where an unrestrained occupant's knees strike the lower dashboard, transmitting kinetic energy along the femurs directly into the pelvis and hip joints.

Whiplash

A cervical acceleration-deceleration injury commonly occurring during rear-end collisions when the torso is thrust forward while the unsupported head and neck lag behind.

Lateral Whiplash

A severe lateral flexion injury to the head, neck, and torso occurring in side-impact crashes when the vehicle is struck above its center of gravity and rocks away from the impact.

Rollover Crash

A vehicular crash pattern common to trucks and SUVs where multiple impacts occur and the most life-threatening event is partial or complete ejection of unrestrained passengers.

Rotational Crash

A spin crash where the vehicle rotates along its axis, providing multiple opportunities to strike outside stationary objects or vehicles.

Angular Crash (Motorcycle)

A motorcycle impact where the bike strikes an object at an angle, causing direct severe crushing trauma to the rider's lower extremity.

Controlled Crash (Motorcycle)

A deliberate defensive technique in which a rider separates themselves from the motorcycle before impact to prevent being trapped under or crushed by the bike.

Axial Loading Fall Injury

The transmission of kinetic energy upward through the skeletal axis (calcaneus, long bones of the lower extremities, pelvis, and spine) when a patient lands on their feet from a height.

Trajectory

The actual course or pathway that a penetrating projectile follows through the air and within body tissues.

Temporary Cavitation

The transient stretching and lateral displacement of internal tissues away from a bullet's path caused by high-pressure shock waves.

Permanent Cavitation

The visible permanent hole or crushed tissue tract that remains along the projectile's pathway after elastic tissues recoil.

Primary Blast Injury

Injuries caused exclusively by the supersonic pressure shock wave produced by an explosion, characteristically damaging gas-filled hollow organs such as the eardrums, lungs, and intestines.

Secondary Blast Injury

Traumatic injuries caused by flying shrapnel, fragmented casings, and propelled debris striking the victim's body.

Tertiary Blast Injury

Blunt traumatic injuries sustained when the victim is hurled through the air by blast winds and impacts a solid wall, object, or the ground.

Quaternary Blast Injury

Miscellaneous explosion-related injuries not caused by the shock wave, shrapnel, or impact, including thermal burns, toxic gas inhalation, suffocation, poisoning, and crush injuries from structure collapse.

Quinary Blast Injury

Pathological sequelae resulting from exposure to chemical, biological, or radioactive contaminants dispersed by a dirty explosive weapon.

Pulmonary Blast Injury

Pulmonary damage resulting from close-range exposure to high-pressure detonation waves, commonly manifesting as pneumothorax, hemothorax, or rapid pulmonary edema without visible external chest trauma.

Multisystem Trauma

Severe injuries involving more than one anatomical body system (e.g., chest and abdomen, or head and spinal trauma), which carry exceptionally high morbidity and mortality.

Open Chest Wound

A penetrating or perforating injury of the thoracic wall that disrupts the integrity of the pleural space, which can rapidly progress to shock or death if unmanaged.

Level I Trauma Center

A regional comprehensive trauma facility capable of providing total surgical and medical care for every aspect of traumatic injury from emergency resuscitation through rehabilitation.

Level II Trauma Center

A trauma center capable of providing initial definitive surgical and trauma care to all severely injured patients.

Level III Trauma Center

A community hospital capable of prompt assessment, resuscitation, emergency care, stabilization, and transfer of severe trauma patients to higher-level facilities.

Level IV Trauma Center

A facility providing advanced trauma life support (ATLS), initial evaluation, and stabilization before transferring the patient to higher-level trauma centers.

Trauma Score

A physiological scoring scale ranging from 1 to 16 (16 representing the best prognosis) based on GCS, respiratory rate, respiratory expansion, systolic blood pressure, and capillary refill.

Revised Trauma Score (RTS)

A physiological scoring tool specifically validated for patients with head trauma, calculated using coded values (0 to 4) for Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP), and Respiratory Rate (RR).