injuries poisoning
Approach to the Trauma Patient
Introduction
Injury is the number one cause of death for people aged 1 to 44. In the US, there were 278,345 trauma deaths in 2020, about 70% of which were accidental. Of intentional injury deaths, more than 65% were due to self-harm. In addition to deaths, injury results in about 37.9 million emergency department visits and 2.6 million hospital admissions annually. Patients whose injuries are serious but not immediately fatal benefit the most from treatment in designated trauma centers, hospitals that have special staffing and protocols to provide immediate care to critically injured patients. Criteria for such designation (and for the necessity of transport to them) vary by state but usually follow the guidelines of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. Many traumatic injuries are discussed elsewhere in THE MANUAL: Overview of Fractures None Spinal Trauma None Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) None Fractures of the Mandible and Midface None Overview of Eye Trauma None Bladder Trauma None Lacerations None 