Trauma
Thirty-seven lessons on hemorrhage, shock, traumatic brain injury, spinal motion restriction, and trauma destination. The lessons follow a priority order and name the guideline they use. Procedures and drug amounts stay on local protocol.
37 lessons
Each lesson is 15 minutes or less, including a self-check drawn only from that lesson. A passed quiz is saved on this device.
Massive Hemorrhage First
10 min
Catastrophic external bleeding before the airway: MARCH order, tourniquets, packing, hypothermia prevention, and a short scene for hemorrhage that cannot be packed.
Start lesson →Tension Pneumothorax Recognition
10 min
Tension as obstructive shock — not tracheal deviation. Needle decompression only for tension physiology, not a simple pneumothorax, then reassess ventilation and blood pressure.
Start lesson →Spinal Motion Restriction Decisions
10 min
Airway, oxygen, and blood pressure first. Boards for extrication then off the board. Collar only if protocol still names one. Hypoperfusion injures the cord more than a careful move.
Start lesson →Traumatic Brain Injury
12 min
Preventing secondary brain injury: hypoxia, hypotension (adult SBP teaching about 110 mm Hg), EtCO₂ about 35–45 mm Hg, and brief hyperventilation only for herniation.
Start lesson →Pelvic Injury & Binder Thinking
10 min
Do not rock the pelvis. Shock is often not the pelvic ring. If protocol still uses a binder: greater trochanters, legs internally rotated, trauma center.
Start lesson →Burn Assessment
12 min
Airway risk, honest TBSA, hypothermia prevention, fluid themes, and ABA-style burn-center referral — not a wet-sheet delay.
Start lesson →Trauma Triage & Destination
10 min
ACS 2021 field triage: physiology, anatomy, mechanism, and special considerations (age, anticoagulation, pregnancy). The closest hospital is not always the right hospital.
Start lesson →Open Chest Wounds & Seals
10 min
Open chest wounds: a vented seal if the patient is breathing spontaneously; do not default to sealing a bagged or intubated chest. Watch for tension. Do not pack the thorax.
Start lesson →Traumatic Cardiac Arrest
12 min
Life-saving interventions first in traumatic arrest: hemorrhage, least-invasive airway, tension if suspected. Compressions are secondary. TOR only per written rule.
Start lesson →Trauma in Pregnancy
12 min
Mother first: left uterine displacement from about 20 weeks, MARCH still applies, shock can hide, and a trauma center with obstetric capability.
Start lesson →Tourniquet Application
10 min
A tourniquet that stops arterial bleeding: high and tight then deliberate placement 2–3 inches on skin, a second tourniquet if bleeding continues, and the time documented.
Start lesson →Wound Packing & Junctional Bleed
12 min
Junctional and deep wounds: pack to the source, sustained pressure, hemostatic versus plain gauze, and chest seals for open chest wounds — not packing the thorax.
Start lesson →Damage-Control Resuscitation
12 min
Stop the bleed, restrict crystalloid, blood if carried, keep the patient warm, TXA after life-saving interventions if protocol, and do not restrict volume in TBI.
Start lesson →Crush Syndrome
12 min
Prolonged entrapment: saline before the lift when possible, no potassium in the bag, hyperkalemia after release, and calcium when the QRS widens.
Start lesson →Geriatric Trauma
12 min
Older trauma patients: SBP under 110 mm Hg may already be shock, anticoagulants, falls, frailty, and the highest-level trauma center when criteria are met.
Start lesson →Pediatric Trauma in the Field
10 min
Children hide shock: length-based tape, warmth, glucose, a quiet child as a red flag, and not undertriaging because they appear well.
Start lesson →Blast Injury in the Field
10 min
Scene safety, MARCH, occult blast lung, tympanic rupture as a clue, and combined burns and trauma in one patient.
Start lesson →Traumatic Amputation
10 min
Stump hemorrhage first, the amputated part dry-bagged and cooled, and not delaying the living patient for an endless search.
Start lesson →Impaled Objects
10 min
Leave the object in place and stabilize it unless it obstructs the airway or prevents compressions — then be ready for hemorrhage.
Start lesson →Abdominal Evisceration
10 min
Moist sterile cover, no reducing bowel, warmth, and a surgical destination — without ignoring hemorrhage and airway.
Start lesson →Facial Trauma and the Airway
10 min
Blood as the obstruction: suction, sitting up if protocol allows, NPA caution through a smashed midface, and SGA or ETT per training.
Start lesson →Helmet Removal for Airway
10 min
When the helmet blocks bag-mask or laryngoscopy it comes off — two people, in-line, and a plan for shoulder pads so the neck does not extend.
Start lesson →Electrical & Lightning Injury
10 min
Power off first, reverse-triage lightning victims who appear dead, CPR and defibrillation, then burn and trauma care.
Start lesson →Chemical Eye Injury
10 min
Irrigate immediately, remove contacts if they come easily, alkali worse than acid, and bring the container if it is safe.
Start lesson →Flail Chest & Pulmonary Contusion
10 min
Flail as a marker for pulmonary contusion: oxygen, analgesia so the patient can breathe, CPAP if protocol allows, and not strapping the segment down.
Start lesson →Penetrating Neck Trauma
11 min
Penetrating neck trauma: airway, direct pressure, no probing, expanding hematoma left in place, and a trauma center with a CICO plan.
Start lesson →Anticoagulated Trauma
11 min
Anticoagulant plus mechanism: assume occult hemorrhage even if the patient looks well, short scene, CT-capable trauma or stroke hospital, bring the medication bottle.
Start lesson →Prehospital Blood Transfusion
12 min
If the service carries blood: stop compressible hemorrhage first, then product for traumatic shock — not pressors, not a liter of saline.
Start lesson →Compartment Syndrome in the Field
10 min
Pain out of proportion and a tight compartment: splint, do not ice hard, do not wait for pulselessness, surgeon-capable emergency department.
Start lesson →Hidden Hemorrhagic Shock
12 min
Compensated hemorrhage: tachycardic, cool, anxious, with a “normal” blood pressure. Expose, MARCH, and a destination that can operate.
Start lesson →Trauma Bay Handoff
10 min
A 30-second trauma-bay handoff: MIST or IMIST-AMBO, one speaker, the remaining life threat, times, then listen.
Start lesson →Needle Decompression Technique
12 min
Needle decompression of true tension: protocol site, over the rib, not too medial, catheter long enough, and reassess — technique, not indication.
Start lesson →Neurogenic vs Hemorrhagic Shock
11 min
Warm, slow, and hypotensive after a high cord injury versus cool and fast from bleeding — look for bleeding in either case, and do not skip tourniquets.
Start lesson →Tourniquet Conversion
11 min
Do not loosen a tourniquet on a crashing patient. Conversion is a protocol step for a patient who is not in shock, with a visible wound you can re-bleed.
Start lesson →SALT Mass-Casualty Triage
12 min
SALT triage: global sorting, individual assessment, a few lifesaving interventions, then treatment and transport. Your MCI plan still owns the details.
Start lesson →Suspension Syndrome
10 min
Get a suspended person down. If they are peri-arrest, lay them flat and start standard care. The old advice to keep them sitting for 30 minutes is not supported.
Start lesson →Circumferential Burns
11 min
Circumferential burns: chest eschar can block ventilation, limb eschar can threaten the limb. Cool briefly, then prevent hypothermia. Do not cut an escharotomy in the field.
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