Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: It is accepted that the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) method, published by the American College of Surgeons, should be used in the initial assessment and management of the injured patient. It is recognised that mortality secondary to trauma follows a trimodal distribution. Catastrophic internal injuries cause death in seconds to minutes after injury, with other severe injuries often associated with significant blood loss, resulting in death minutes to hours later. The third peak is days to weeks later and is usually due to multi-organ failure. The quality of the management of the trauma patient in the first few hours following injury markedly affects the outcome. The ATLS protocol contains a primary and secondary survey, which provides a systematic way of identifying and treating injuries sustained. However there are circumstances when a potential threat to life may not easily be recognised. Most commonly errors occur in polytrauma patients when the secondary survey cannot be completed, due to primary survey findings requiring immediate intervention. Other factors that contribute to diagnostic errors are distracting injuries, where pain from one injury disguises another, or where the history is misleading or incomplete.
Source: Injury Extra
Institutions: Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
Language: English
Subfield: Emergency Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2073386989