👤 By the CinnaEMS Content Team🕐 Updated 2026-09-24🏷️ Trauma🔖 Free to read, print, and share
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Use this quick-reference guide to recognise, treat and hand over Trauma on the NREMT and on the call. Keep it handy during review and on exam day!
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📒 The 1-minute cheat sheet
📌 Obstructive Shock
Absent sounds one side → tension
Sounds intact + muffled tones → tamponade
Dull percussion + flat necks → hemothorax
📌 Hidden Bleeding
Pelvis and abdomen hold liters
Hypotension + 'isolated' head injury → look elsewhere
📌 Burns
Singed hair, soot, hoarse → airway closing
Act inside the window, not after
📚 Trauma — full study notes
The cheat sheet above is your quick recall card. These notes go deeper — what it is, what to do first, what changes the plan, and what to hand over.
Advanced trauma management, where almost every examinable decision reduces to one of three things: where is the blood going, is the airway going to close, and how fast can this patient reach surgical control.
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Key points
Understand these first
Unilateral absent breath sounds with obstructive shock is tension pneumothorax.
The pelvis and abdomen bleed heavily with nothing visible externally.
Hypotension in an 'isolated' head injury means another source until proven otherwise.
Hypoxia and hypotension are the preventable second injury after TBI.
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Nursing priorities
What to do, in order
Minimize time to surgical control for bleeding you cannot reach.
Protect the airway early when an inhalation injury is suspected.
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Red flags — report now
Escalate immediately
Distended neck veins with unilateral silence
Perineal bruising
Hoarseness or singed nasal hair after a burn
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Patient teaching
What patients must know
Driving the pressure to normal in uncontrolled bleeding displaces clot.
❓ Trauma: NREMT FAQs
What are the priority actions for Trauma in the field?
Minimize time to surgical control for bleeding you cannot reach. Protect the airway early when an inhalation injury is suspected.
What findings in Trauma change your plan or your transport decision?
Distended neck veins with unilateral silence. Perineal bruising. Hoarseness or singed nasal hair after a burn.
What do I need to know about Trauma for the NREMT?
Unilateral absent breath sounds with obstructive shock is tension pneumothorax. The pelvis and abdomen bleed heavily with nothing visible externally. Hypotension in an 'isolated' head injury means another source until proven otherwise. Hypoxia and hypotension are the preventable second injury after TBI.
What should the crew communicate or document for Trauma?
Driving the pressure to normal in uncontrolled bleeding displaces clot.
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Quick Tip
Unilateral absent breath sounds with obstructive shock is tension pneumothorax.