Efforts to standardize the approach to trauma have led to an algorithmic, thoughtless approach to trauma that over-utilizes CT in well patients and delays CT in ill patients. In critically injured blunt trauma patients, CT is a fantastically useful test and should be prioritized as the critical diagnostic step to be taken as quickly as feasible. Classic teaching is that unstable patients should be stabilized prior to CT, but this is an outdated, dangerous paradigm; optimal care in severe trauma rapidly implements key resuscitative maneuvers so that resuscitation can continue simultaneously with CT. I have witnessed many cases where persistently hypotensive patients were observed in the trauma bay because “the patient might need to go direct to the OR,” but direct to the OR means direct to the OR; observation of an unstable trauma patient prior to elucidation of the injuries is usually the wrong strategy. Know exactly what the initial resuscitative priorities are in trauma so that as soon as they’re done, the patient can be taken to their next destination (CT, OR, IR). The following are carried out in parallel with universal first steps of resuscitation and the primary survey. #Management #Trauma #BigTrauma #BeforeCT #Checklist #Resuscitation
