Introduction to Trauma Care

About the podcast

Tim and Jake run through a brief introduction the UK trauma systems; why they were set up, how they are structured and the way they provide care for trauma victims. We then have a look how this transfers specifically to our practice in the Peninsula region.

A important part of providing trauma care is to understand why and they how we do things; this isn’t just about our clinical practice but includes understanding the governance and structure of your system. As with all things in trauma we need to “do the basics well”!

Check the show notes for the level 1 and 2 Major Trauma Nursing competencies covered in this podcast. Other helpful material has been listed below.

An introduction to Trauma Care – ThePTN podcast

We go through the introduction of trauma systems into the UK and how this came about, focussing specifically on the Peninsula Trauma Network. Finish up with overview of the trauma call and how we manintain best practice across the network.

Learning areas in this podcast:

• Is able to describe the local Trauma Network Demonstrates understanding of the trauma care system, i.e., what a major trauma centre, trauma unit and local emergency hospital are
• Able to demonstrate where to access the (department) trauma call activation criteria and discuss its use, with respect to physiological signs, injuries sustained, mechanism of injury or other special circumstances
• Demonstrates knowledge of the existence and location of guidelines/SOPs, relating to early trauma care
• Demonstrates knowledge of the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2016) Major Trauma NG39 guidelines
• Can receive a pre-alert call and understands the structured system for recording and receiving information, e.g., ATMIST (NICE 2016)
• Can escalate appropriately on receiving a prealert to senior nurse or trauma team leader to determine the level of response required (NICE 2016)