Blunt Trauma

Front 1

Key Point

Back 1

Blunt trauma is the most common cause of death and disability.

Front 2

Key Point

Back 2

Blunt trauma can be deceptive because the true nature of the injury is often hidden and evidence of the serious injury is very subtle or even absent.

Front 3

Kinetics

Back 3

The branch of physics that deals with motion, taking into consideration mass and force.

Front 4

Inertia

Back 4

Tendency of an object to remain at rest or remain in motion unless acted upon by an external force.

Front 5

Motion

Back 5

The process of changing place; movement.

Front 6

Energy

Back 6

The capacity to do work in the strict physical sense.

Front 7

Kinetic Energy

Back 7

The energy an object has while it is in motion. It is related to the object's mass and velocity.

Front 8

Mass

Back 8

A measure of the matter that an object contains; the property of a physical body that gives the body inertia.

Front 9

Velocity

Back 9

The rate of motion in a particular direction in realtion to time.

Front 10

Kinetic Energy Formula

Back 10

Kinetic Energy = Mass x Velocity²
________________
2

Front 11

Acceleration

Back 11

The rate at which speed or velocity increases.

Front 12

Deceleration

Back 12

The rate at which speed or velocity decreases.

Front 13

Key Point

Back 13

Trauma can be catagorized as either blunt or penetrating.

Front 14

Force Equation

Back 14

Force = Mass x Acceleration (or deceleration)

Front 15

Exsanguination

Back 15

The draining of blood to the point at which life cannot be sustained.

Front 16

Events of Vehicle Collision

Back 16

Vehicle collision
Body collision
Organ collision
Secondary collision
Additional impacts

Front 17

Key Point

Back 17

Secondary collisions may cause a patient's injuries or increase their severity.

Front 18

Key Point

Back 18

Restraints have had a profound effect in reducing crash-related deaths.

Front 19

Key Point

Back 19

Seat belt use should be mandatory for all EMS personnel.

Front 20

Key Point

Back 20

While airbags can cause injury, they have, overall, greatly reduced injury and death in vehicular crashes.

Front 21

Key Point

Back 21

Properly used child safety seats provide the best protection for infants and small children riding in vehicles.

Front 22

Types of Vehicle Impact

Back 22

Frontal
Lateral
Rotational
Rear-end
Rollover

Front 23

Key Point

Back 23

Frontal impact is the most common type of vehicle crash.

Front 24

Mechanisms Associated with Frontal Impacts

Back 24

Down-and-under pathway
Up-and-Over pathway
Ejection

Front 25

Key Point

Back 25

The up-and-over pathway accounts for over half of the deaths in vehicular crashes.

Front 26

Axial Loading

Back 26

Application of the forces of trauma along the axis of the spine; this often results in compression fractures of the spine.

Front 27

Crumple Zone

Back 27

The region of a vehicle designed to absorb the energy of impact.

Front 28

Key Point

Back 28

Maintain a higher index of suspicion of serious injury when assessing lateral imoact crashes because the degree of injury may be greater than the damamge alone would indicate.

Front 29

Oblique

Back 29

Having a slanted position or direction.

Front 30

Key Point

Back 30

The visual examination of the crash scene can tell you a great deal about what happened to the patient(s)and what wjat injuries should be suspected.

Front 31

Key Point

Back 31

Alcohol intoxication is associated with most serious crashes.

Front 32

Key Point

Back 32

Head and body cavity trauma account for 85 percent of deaths in vehicular crashes.

Front 33

Key Point

Back 33

Serious trauma is likely with even low-speed motorcycle crashes because of the lack of protective vehicular structure.

Front 34

Key Point

Back 34

Helmets reduce the incidence and severity of head injuries in motorcycle crashes, but they have no effect on the incidence of spinal trauma.

Front 35

Key Point

Back 35

In pedestrian-vs-automobile crashes, adults tend to turn away from the oncoming vehicle before impact, while children turn toward it.

Front 36

Key Point

Back 36

Recreational vehicles usually lack the structure and the restraint systems that offer significant protection to

Front 37

Oxidizer

Back 37

An agent that enhances combustion of a fuel.

Front 38

Pressure Wave

Back 38

Area of over-pressure that radiates outward from an explosion.

Front 39

Mechanisms Associated with Blasts

Back 39

Pressure wave
Blast wind
Projectiles
Personnel displacement
Confined spaces and structural collapses
Burns

Front 40

Overpressure

Back 40

A rapid increase then decrease in atmospheric pressure created by an explosion.

Front 41

Key Point

Back 41

Underwater detonation increases the lethal range of an explosion threefold.

Front 42

Blast Wind

Back 42

The air movement caused as the heated and pressurized products of an explosion move outward.

Front 43

Ordnance

Back 43

Military weapons and munitions.

Front 44

Flechettes

Back 44

Arrow-shaped projectiles found in some military ordnance.

Front 45

Key Points

Back 45

The most lethal explosions are those causing structural collapses followed by those in confined spaces.

Front 46

Incendiary

Back 46

An agent that combusts easily or creates combustion.

Front 47

Blast Injury Phases

Back 47

Primary - caused by heat of explosion and overpressure wave
Secondary - caused by blast projectiles
Tertiary - caused by personnel displacement and structural collapse.

Front 48

Key Point

Back 48

Pulmonary injuries are the most common and serious trauma associated with explosions.

Front 49

Emboli

Back 49

Undissolved solid, liquid, or gaseous matter in the bloodstream that may cause blockage of blood vessels.

Front 50

Dyspnea

Back 50

Labored or difficult breathing.

Front 51

Hemoptysis

Back 51

Expectoration of blood from the respiratory tract.

Front 52

Pneumothorax

Back 52

Collection of air or gas in the pleural cavity between the chest wall and lung.

Front 53

Key Point

Back 53

Provide careful positive pressure ventilations to any blast injury patient with serious dyspnea.

Front 54

Key Point

Back 54

The potential for injury from a fall depends on the height and stopping distance.