Polytrauma - what is it? First aid for polytrauma

Often in the medical history of a person who fell from a decent height or got into a car accident, you can observe a term such as polytrauma. What is it and why is it so important to provide first aid to the patient? This is exactly what will be discussed in the article. We also learn how a person can save a life of a car accident victim, as well as what diagnostic and treatment methods are used in this case.

Description

Two or more traumatic injuries of various organs and tissues are referred to as polytrauma. What is it and what are the symptoms of this condition? Polytrauma - a severe polisistemnye and polyorganism lesions, in which there is a pathological process. It is based on violations of local and general adaptation processes, homeostasis.

Such a state is dangerous because it does not manifest itself to the full. Only external damages can be visible:

• Traumatic shock;
• Acute bleeding;
• Stop breathing;
• loss of consciousness.

The remaining symptoms occur depending on the type of polytrauma.

Degrees

1. Shock is not observed. Damaged lungs. The functions of the organs are completely restored.
2. There is a shock of 1 or 2 degrees. Damage to organs of medium severity. Rehabilitation of the function of internal organs takes a long time.
3. Shock 2 or 3 degrees. Damage is severe. There is a partial or total loss of functions of the affected organs.
4. Shock 3 or 4 stages. Damage is very difficult, dangerous for life, not only in an acute period, but also during treatment.

Effects

Various multiple and combined injuries in terms of life threat can vary widely, so it is necessary to classify them into the following categories:

• Life-threatening;
• Non-viable;
• Deadly polytrauma.

What is it and how does each species differ?

Non-inflammable damage does not cause damage to the vital functions of the body, does not pose a danger to life.

A life-threatening injury affects important organs and systems that can be cured with timely and skilled care.

Lethal damage - the destruction of internal organs, which can not be restored even by surgery.

First aid

A person far from medicine will not be able to provide full medical assistance to the victim who suffered from a car accident, an accident at work, etc. However, first aid for polytrauma should be made. Directly before the arrival of a team of doctors, a passer-by or a familiar person should conduct such simple manipulations with the victim, which will facilitate his condition:

• Stop bleeding with a harness or any other improvised means.
• Release the victim from clothing (if necessary).
• Raise the trunk slightly.

No other manipulations should be done. After all, a person far from medicine will not be able to understand which type of polytrauma has been received. This can only be determined by a doctor, and then only after a thorough examination of the patient.

Implementation of vital activities

After the arrival of a team of doctors, the patient should already be supported with such a systemic defeat as polytrauma. Emergency medical care in this case is as follows:

• Restoration of patency of the upper respiratory tract. Experts remove mucus and vomit from the mouth, insert a special tube or wear a laryngeal mask for clean and even breathing.
• Getting rid of hypoxia. Doctors resort to artificial ventilation.
• Complete stop of external bleeding.

The execution of these manipulations should take no more than 4 minutes.

Relocation of the patient

Treatment of polytrauma should be conducted within the walls of the hospital. Therefore, the victim must be taken to a medical institution. And for this it is important to properly place the patient on a stretcher, a special mattress or shield (depending on where and how the spine has been damaged).

Often there are times when a polytrauma was received as a result of a traffic accident. In this case, the victim after the accident is in a coma or is trapped in the body of the car. In this case, even before the victim is removed from the car, it is necessary to provide him with a normal patency of the upper respiratory tract. This can be done with the help of a special collar of Shantz, capable of fixing the cervical spine.

Diagnostic plan

When a patient enters the intensive care ward with him, the following activities are carried out:

1. Urgent examination. A specialist checks whether a person is stable or not, decompensated or dies. Also, the doctor simultaneously examines breathing, blood pressure.
2. The team of specialists conducts activities that can support the patient's life: providing access to the veins, airway patency, pleural cavity drainage, life saving operations.
3. Connecting the patient to an oxygen device, normalizing breathing, ventilation monitoring.
4. Immediate diagnosis:

• Examination of the chest, head, abdomen, spine, limbs.
• Application of a catheter for the bladder.
• Diagnosis of peripheral pulsation.

5. Laboratory indicators:

• Blood clotting.
• Hemogram.
• Blood type, compatibility test.
• Toxicological screening.

6. Sonography.
7. X-ray.
8. Computer tomography.

Medical care for polytrauma in the hospital

After the victim is brought to the hospital, they should immediately begin to deal with specialists. After the analysis, the patient is prepared for an operation to stop severe bleeding (for example, with a rupture of the liver or spleen, damage to blood vessels, etc.).

Simultaneously with surgical intervention, assistance with polytrauma is accompanied by intensive treatment of the shock state. The patient is injected with special preparations.

Possible operations for polytrauma:

• Trepanation of the skull with brain damage.
• Surgical treatment of wounds that bleed profusely.
• Amputation of the limb.
• Treatment of open fractures, joints, vessels, nerves.

After surgical intervention, the patient is further given an infusion therapy, the purpose of which is to normalize the functioning of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. At this stage, the patient is carried out such studies as:

• Tomogram of the skull;
• Radiography of the pelvis, chest, abdomen, limbs.

Psychological rehabilitation

People who have suffered a trauma need to undergo restoration to fully adapt to life in society. And not only on the physical, but also on the psychological level. This recovery is simply necessary for people who have reduced functional abilities, social relations, basic skills of caring for themselves, etc. Psychological help for polytrauma should be from both specialists and relatives of the victim. During rehabilitation, relatives should help the patient, be always near, but in no case should they try to do everything for him. It happens that after a polytrauma, the patient's elementary skills of self-service disappear. The task of relatives is to help the victim recover faster, to adjust again to life.

Psychological and social rehabilitation should include such items as:

• Training of the victim self-service.
• Likbez for the patient's family.
• Organization of the patient's life in everyday life (adaptation of the room in which a person lives, to his needs).
• Training in vital skills.
• Ensuring continuous social communication.
• Constant observation and work with a psychologist.

Specialists involved in rehabilitation

Provide psychological and physical assistance for polytrauma should such doctors as:

• Rehabilitologist.
• Psychologist.
• Specialist in physiotherapy.
• Defectologist.
• The oculist.
• Psychotherapist.
• Neuropathologist.
• Orthopedist.
• Social worker.

Principles of the treatment process for patients

1. Efficiency. The complex diagnostics should be carried out within 1 hour after the incident.
2. Security. No manipulation conducted with a patient should not threaten his life.
3. Simultaneity. All medical and diagnostic measures should be performed synchronously.

Specificity of polytrauma

It is hard for physicians to deal with people who are badly injured as a result of an accident. Features of polytrauma, and hence the difficulties are:

• Sharp lack of time.
• Restriction of the possibility of normal transportation of the victim even inside the hospital.
• Limiting the range of diagnostic and therapeutic methods due to the fact that the patient is always in the position on the back, it can not be turned.
• Operative search for abdominal, skull, chest, peritoneal injuries, rapid diagnosis and elimination of problems.

conclusions

In this article you have become acquainted with such an important and topical topic as first aid in the diagnosis of polytrauma. What it is and to what extent such damage is distributed, also found out. We realized that the efficiency, clarity and literacy of the actions of medical personnel allows a person not only to survive after the incident, but also to fully recover.