- • Paramedic judgement is important because of occult injuries, which could be assessed based on mechanism alone
- • Speed, crash mechanism, gear
- • Systematic assessment looking for limb or life threatening injuries
- • Traumatic brain injuries
- • Assess for flail chest, rib and sternal fractures high correlation to serious internal injuries:
- More rib fractures
- Bilateral rib fractures - more internal injuries
- (Kraus JF, et al. J Trauma, 52(3):548 2002)
- • Chest/abdominal pain or tenderness
- • Pelvic instability, pain or tenderness
- • Single long bone fractures in all patients
High speed and frontal crashes
are most dangerous
