[Interdisciplinary treatment of severely injured patients in the trauma resuscitation room]

Abstract

The trauma resuscitation room in emergency departments is an important link between preclinical treatment and clinical management of patients with multiple trauma. For the trauma team (Trauma Surgery, Anaesthesiology, Radiology) to respond adequately, a high degree of training and standardisation is required. With arrival of the patient, the trauma team starts with priority orientated resuscitation. After life-threatening problems have been resolved, the diagnostic work is started with plain films of the chest and the pelvis and FAST. Additional plain films are made depending on further suspected injuries. Reassessment of the patient is done and necessary emergency interventions are performed before the patient is transferred to the radiology department for organ focused computed tomography. CT has gained importance in the early diagnostic phase of trauma care. The development of Multislice Helical Computed Tomography (MSCT) has led to substantial refinement in the diagnostic work-up. For many institutions it has become an essential part of the imaging of the traumatized patient. Delayed and insufficient medical interventions have a high impact on negative patient outcome. Anticipating and dealing with critical situations might reduce preventable errors in the treatment process and can be achieved by implementation of an algorithm-based structured workflow. In that context some elements of quality management are well established in clinical practice. In the presented paper we describe the effort that needs to be done to provide optimal care for multiple trauma patients after admission to a designed trauma centre.