Articles: trauma.
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Injuries are predicted to become a greater cause of mortality than communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, signaling a public health dilemma for governments and citizens in each country. This article uses epidemiological estimates of injuries in Zambia, considers the socio-economic impact of injuries, examines current policies for prevention, and provides a rapid situation analysis to help develop an action and research agenda for injury prevention in the country. It calls for better epidemiological data, capacity building for human resources, and adoption of evidence-based targets and interventions. For Zambia to reduce its burden of injuries, funding for research and training should be integral to the future of its national health agenda.
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Polytrauma patients often require medications to treat pain, treat agitation, and facilitate painful procedures. Though analgesia will be deferred in obtunded patients in profound shock, reduced-dose opioids or ketamine should be administered to unstable patients with severe pain with good mental status. ⋯ Severe agitation can be effectively managed with dissociative-dose ketamine, which facilitates ongoing resuscitation, including CT. Severely painful procedures can be effectively facilitated by propofol or dissociative-dose ketamine, with continuous attention to ventilation and application of a step-by-step response to hypoventilation.
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Feb 2023
ReviewIntimate Partner Violence and Human Trafficking: Trauma We May Not Identify.
Intimate partner violence and human trafficking commonly affect patients presenting to the emergency department including the trauma bay. Although these forms of violence and exploitation are not always the underlying cause of that particular emergency department encounter, screening is important regardless of the presenting condition because this presentation may be the only opportunity to receive help and ultimately plants the seed for future access to help regardless of what a patient chooses to do following this first encounter. There are important medical care considerations in these patients beyond trauma bay procedures that can make the difference in saving a life.
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Although resuscitation in trauma requires a multidisciplinary and multifaceted approach, one of the Big Five procedures may need to be performed as lifesaving and improving intervention. Your patient's lives depend on understanding, timing, and techniques of these elusive and difficult-to-master procedures. ⋯ Prepare the team, system, and yourself when performing any of these procedures. It is important to be facile with your equipment and familiar with the steps to maximize success.
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Shock is a life-threatening condition of circulatory failure leading to inadequate organ perfusion and tissue oxygenation. In a trauma patient, shock may be due to hypovolemia, cardiogenic, obstructive or distributive causes individually or in combination. The physiological response to major hemorrhage is dependent on a variety of autonomic reflexes, mechanism of injury, bleeding source, and baseline physiology of the patient. This article discusses the common causes of shock and the accompanying physiology, how clinical assessment can support the diagnosis and effective treatment of shock, and the common pitfalls in trauma patients.