Emergency medicine clinics of North America
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Feb 2018
ReviewThe Human Factor: Optimizing Trauma Team Performance in Dynamic Clinical Environments.
Resilience is built, not born, and there is no single strategy that reliably manufactures resilient performance in all circumstances. Optimizing team performance in dynamic environments involves the complex interplay of strategies that target individual preparation, team interaction, environmental optimization, and systems-level resilience engineering. To accomplish this, health care can draw influence from human factors research to inform tangible, practical, and measurable improvements in performance and outcomes, modified to suit local and domain-specific needs.
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Feb 2018
ReviewMajor Abdominal Trauma: Critical Decisions and New Frontiers in Management.
A standardized approach should be used with a patient with abdominal trauma, including primary and secondary surveys, followed by additional diagnostic testing as indicated. Specific factors can make the diagnosis of serious abdominal trauma challenging, particularly in the face of multiple and severe injuries, unknown mechanism of injury, altered mental status, and impending or complete cardiac arrest. Advances in technology in diagnosis and/or treatment with ultrasound, helical computed tomography, and resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) have significantly advanced trauma care, and are still the focus of current and ongoing investigations.
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Feb 2018
ReviewResuscitation Resequenced: A Rational Approach to Patients with Trauma in Shock.
Trauma resuscitation is a complex and dynamic process that requires a high-performing team to optimize patient outcomes. More than 30 years ago, Advanced Trauma Life Support was developed to formalize and standardize trauma care; however, the sequential nature of the algorithm that is used can lead to ineffective prioritization. ⋯ This article proposes a resequenced approach that (1) addresses immediate threats to life and (2) targets strategies for the diagnosis and management of shock causes. This updated approach emphasizes evidence-based resuscitation principles that align with physiologic priorities.