medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

, traumatology (from Greek ''trauma'', meaning injury or wound) is the study of

wound A wound is any disruption of or damage to living tissue, such as skin, mucous membranes, or organs. Wounds can either be the sudden result of direct trauma (mechanical, thermal, chemical), or can develop slowly over time due to underlying diseas ...

s and

injuries Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with b ...

caused by

accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not deliberately caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that the event may have been caused by Risk assessment, unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Many researchers, insurers ...

s or

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

to a person, and the surgical therapy and repair of the damage. Traumatology is a branch of

. It is often considered a subset of

surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

and in countries without the specialty of

trauma surgery Trauma surgery is a surgical specialty that utilizes both operative and non-operative management to treat traumatic injuries, typically in an acute setting. Trauma surgeons generally complete residency training in general surgery and often f ...

it is most often a sub-specialty to

orthopedic surgery Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

. Traumatology may also be known as ''accident surgery''.

Branches

Branches of traumatology include medical traumatology and psychological traumatology. Medical traumatology can be defined as the study of specializing in the treatment of wounds and injuries caused by violence or general accidents. This type of traumatology focuses on the surgical procedures and future

physical therapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

a patient needs to repair the damage and recover properly. Psychological traumatology deals with damage to one's psychological wellbeing caused by

distressing Distressing (or weathered look) in the decorative arts is the activity of making a piece of furniture or object appear aged and older, giving it a "weathered look". There are many methods to produce an appearance of age and wear. Distressing is ...

events. This type of trauma can also be the result of overwhelming amounts of stress in one's life. Psychological trauma usually involves some type of physical trauma that poses a threat to one's survival and sense of security. Psychological trauma often leaves people feeling overwhelmed,

anxious Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response to a present threat, where ...

, and threatened.Emotional and Psychological Trauma: Learning to Heal from Recent or Childhood Trauma and Move on with Your Life. (n.d.). http://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/emotional-and-psychological-trauma.htm Trauma can also be classified as: * Acute: It results from a single stressful or dangerous situation. * Chronic: It results from repeated and prolonged exposure to highly stressful situations. * Complex: It results from exposure to multiple traumatic events. Secondary or vicarious trauma, is another form of trauma in which a person develops trauma symptoms from close contact with someone who has experienced a traumatic event.

Types of trauma

When it comes to types of trauma, medical and psychological traumatology go hand in hand. Types of trauma include

car accidents A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

gunshot wounds A gunshot wound (GSW) is a penetrating injury caused by a projectile (e.g. a bullet) shot from a gun (typically a firearm). Damage may include bleeding, bone fractures, organ damage, wound infection, and loss of the ability to move part of ...

concussions A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brie ...

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

from incidents, etc. Medical traumas are repaired with surgeries; however, they can still cause psychological trauma and other stress factors. For example, a teenager in a car accident who broke his

wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known as the carpal ...

and needed extensive surgery to save his arm may experience

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...

when driving in a car post-accident. PTSD can be diagnosed after a person experiences one or more intense and traumatic events and react with fear with complaints from three categorical symptoms lasting one month or longer. These categories are: re-experiencing the traumatic event, avoiding anything associated with the trauma, and increased symptoms of increased psychological

arousal Arousal is the physiology, physiological and psychology, psychological state of being awoken or of Five senses, sense organs stimulated to a point of perception. It involves activation of the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) in the hu ...

.Bellis, M. D., Baum, A. S., Birmaher, B., Keshavan, M. S., Eccard, C. H., Boring, A. M., . . . Ryan, N.D. (1999). Developmental traumatology part I: Biological stress systems∗∗See accompanying Editorial, in this issue. Biological Psychiatry, 45(10), 1259-1270

Guidelines for essential trauma care

Airway management Airway management includes a set of maneuvers and medical procedures performed to prevent and relieve an airway obstruction. This ensures an open pathway for gas exchange between a patient's lungs and the atmosphere. This is accomplished by either ...

, monitoring, and management of injuries are all key guidelines when it comes to medical trauma care. Airway management is a key component of emergency on-scene care. Using a systematic approach, first responders must assess that a patient's airway is not blocked in order to ensure the patient gets enough circulation and remain as calm as they can.Mock, C. (2004). Guidelines for essential trauma care. Geneva: World Health Organization. Monitoring patients and making sure their body does not go into

shock Shock may refer to: Common uses Healthcare * Acute stress reaction, also known as psychological or mental shock ** Shell shock, soldiers' reaction to battle trauma * Circulatory shock, a medical emergency ** Cardiogenic shock, resulting from ...

is another essential guideline when it comes to medical trauma care. Nurses are required to watch over patients and check

blood pressure Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of Circulatory system, circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term ...

heart rate Heart rate is the frequency of the cardiac cycle, heartbeat measured by the number of contractions of the heart per minute (''beats per minute'', or bpm). The heart rate varies according to the body's Human body, physical needs, including the nee ...

, etc. to make sure that patients are doing well and are not crashing. When it comes to managing injuries, head and neck injuries require the most care post surgery.

Head injuries A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms ''traumatic brain injury'' and ''head injury'' are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of inju ...

are one of the major causes of trauma related death and disabilities worldwide. It is important for patients of head trauma to get

CT scans A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...

post surgery to insure that there are no problems.

Guidelines for psychological trauma care

There is a range of approaches to assist victims to overcome the anxiety and stress that follows

psychological trauma Psychological trauma (also known as mental trauma, psychiatric trauma, emotional damage, or psychotrauma) is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events, such as Major trauma, bodily injury, Sexual assault, sexual violence, or ot ...

. Affected persons can also follow

self-care Self-care has been defined as the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and actively manage illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food choices, ...

such as exercise and socializing with familiar and safe associates and family members. Trauma disturbs the body's natural equilibrium by putting it in a state of fear and hyper-arousal. Exercising for thirty minutes a day facilitated the nervous system to "unfreeze" from a traumatic state. Being surrounded by a good support system is a powerful factor in treating psychological trauma. Participating in social activities, volunteering, and making new friends are all ways to help forget about or cope with traumatic events. Coming to terms with

childhood trauma Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences. Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and phys ...

is especially challenging.

Patient assessment

Advanced trauma life support Advanced trauma life support (ATLS) is a training program for medical providers in the management of acute Trauma (medicine), trauma cases, developed by the American College of Surgeons. Similar programs exist for immediate care providers such as ...

, training for medical doctors dealing with trauma *

Revised Trauma Score The Revised Trauma Score (RTS) is a physiologic scoring system based on the initial vital signs of a patient. A lower score indicates a higher severity of injury. Use in triage The Revised Trauma Score is made up of three categories: Glasgow Co ...

Injury Severity Score The Injury Severity Score (ISS) is an established medical score to assess trauma severity. It correlates with mortality, morbidity and hospitalization time after trauma. It is used to define the term major trauma. A major trauma (or polytrauma) is ...

Abbreviated Injury Scale The Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) is an anatomical-based coding system created by the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine to classify and describe the severity of injuries. It represents the threat to life associated with the ...

Triage In medicine, triage (, ; ) is a process by which care providers such as Health professional, medical professionals and those with first aid knowledge determine the order of priority for providing treatment to injured individuals and/or inform th ...

Wound assessment

Factors in the assessment of wounds are: * the nature of the wound, whether it is a laceration, abrasion, bruise or burn * the size of the wound in length, width and depth * the extent of the overall area of tissue damage caused by the impact of a mechanical force, or the reaction to chemical agents in, for example, fires or exposure to caustic substances. Forensic physicians, as well as pathologists may also be required to examine ( traumatic) wounds on people.

References

External links

Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma

European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology

Journal of Injury and Violence Research

Trauma.org
(trauma resources for medical professionals) {{Authority control Surgical specialties >