Trauma Management

From The Critics

Reviewer: David J. Dries, MD(University of Minnesota Medical School)
Description: This multiauthored handbook describes field, emergency department, and operative management of injured patients.
Purpose: A pocket guide is provided to facilitate management of trauma patients by residents, surgeons, and emergency physicians.
Audience: Trainees, teachers, and practitioners may benefit from this manual. The editors and the majority of authors are from the state of California or are associated with USC training programs.
Features: The book is organized around the temporal sequence of injury and its management, beginning with prehospital care and continuing with the emergency department, operating room, and intensive care unit. After initial chapters on resuscitation, presentation of injuries proceeds according to organ system. Separate chapters describe imaging considerations, geriatric and pediatric concerns, and specific intensive care unit problems. Chapters are presented in outline form with liberal use of black-and-white radiographs and clinical photographs. Line drawings and tables are also commonly employed. For the most part, all illustrations reproduce with acceptable quality, though detail is sometimes difficult to ascertain on the CT scans. Chapters conclude with a reference list citing original work or excellent secondary sources. This material dates to within one year of publication. The table of contents lists only chapter title and author names. A brief index with broad categories of little more than four pages concludes.
Assessment: This is a worthy if bulky pocket guide for trauma practitioners. Many problems, with the exception of basic ICU management, are covered here. There is some overlap — imaging chapters may be combined with those covering clinical problems. Coming from a group with extensive clinical experience in the management of trauma, this is a tool for house officers beginning their trauma rotation. A similar work is The Trauma Manual (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1998).

Booknews

This book has been prepared to serve as a quick and practical guide in the evaluation and management of trauma patients by residents, surgeons, and emergency physicians. It covers an extensive array of topics, from the correct means of handling and transporting trauma victims to proper evaluative techniques and actual and specific techniques for dealing with a diverse type of injuries, including penetrating injuries, lung injuries, laryngotracheal injuries, blunt aortic trauma and others. Heavily illustrated with x-ray photographs and ultrasound images. Comb binding. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

3 Stars from Doody