Trauma Management Flashcards
7 cards from real FISDAP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Trauma Management flashcards as text
A motorcyclist is found unresponsive after a high-speed crash. Which mechanism of injury pattern should alert you to potential spinal injury?
Answer: Ejection from the vehicle with unknown landing
Ejection from a vehicle is a high-risk mechanism because the patient can sustain significant deceleration forces and impact injuries to the spine.
During a mass casualty incident, a patient with a femur fracture, open airway, and weak radial pulse is classified as which triage category using START?
Answer: Yellow (delayed)
In START triage, a patient who is walking or has a patent airway, adequate respirations, and a radial pulse with only a long-bone fracture is classified Yellow (delayed).
You are managing a patient with suspected tension pneumothorax. After needle decompression in the 2nd intercostal space, midclavicular line, there is no improvement. What is your next action?
Answer: Perform needle decompression at the 4th or 5th ICS, anterior axillary line
If the first decompression fails, the second attempt should be performed at the 4th–5th intercostal space at the anterior axillary line, which may be more effective in obese or muscular patients.
A patient sustains a crush injury to the forearm for 45 minutes. Upon extrication, which systemic complication is the highest priority concern?
Answer: Hyperkalemia causing cardiac dysrhythmia
Crush syndrome releases intracellular potassium into the bloodstream, causing life-threatening hyperkalemia and potentially fatal cardiac dysrhythmias upon reperfusion.
Which finding on assessment is MOST consistent with a cardiac tamponade after penetrating chest trauma?
Answer: Hypotension, muffled heart tones, JVD (Beck's Triad)
Beck's Triad — hypotension, muffled heart tones, and jugular venous distension — is the classic presentation of cardiac tamponade.
When applying a tourniquet for a traumatic amputation of the lower leg, where should it be placed?
Answer: 2–3 inches proximal to the wound, on the thigh
Tourniquets should be placed 2–3 inches proximal to the wound; for lower leg amputations, this means placement on the thigh to occlude femoral blood flow.
A patient with a GCS of 8 after blunt head trauma begins vomiting. What is the immediate priority?
Answer: Protect the airway with suction and consider early intubation
A GCS of 8 or less indicates inability to protect the airway; vomiting in this setting dramatically increases aspiration risk, making airway management the immediate priority.