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The All-Important Trauma Kit
Whether an accident is a single-occupant car crash or the crash of a large passenger jet, the lives at risk are dependent on the supplies in the trauma kit as much as on the training of those who carry one to the scene. The trauma kit is an emergency room in a bag that arrives as soon as possible after an emergency.
The Golden Hour
Trauma surgeons know that the sooner an injured person is diagnosed and treated, the more of a chance he has to recover as well as possible. The 60 minutes following an accident is called the golden hour. Treatment given during this time can be more effective than the same treatment given later. Since few traumas occur in a hospital itself, the golden hour includes the time it takes for help to arrive and for a trained professional to get to the injured. How much of the hour is taken up with travel time depends on where the trauma occurs, how soon help is summoned and how many injured people are involved. The hour can be taken up by the distance or other considerations of the place in which it occurs. Someone who is injured by a fall on a mountain top will not reach a doctor in a short time. Neither will someone who is injured in a dangerous area like a building collapse since medical personnel will be kept away until the person is removed from the danger. The same is true when an accident involved dozens or hundreds of injured people. Those who get to medical help quickly will fare better than those who are the end of the line.
The best way to get medical help to the injured quickly is to bring trained personnel to the scene with a trauma kit in the possession of each one. Personnel on the scene can evaluate the danger of an injury and use the contents of the trauma kit to stabilize the patient sufficiently to survive the trip to a trauma center. Immediate care can be given to those suffering an asthma attack or heart attack. Bleeding wounds can be cleaned, if needed, and covered. Broken or fractured bones can be immobilized and protected for transportation. The trauma kit contains evaluation tools like a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. Tools to clear an airway are an important part of the trauma kit. Burns can receive the necessary treatment thanks to the gel burn dressings and sterile dressings found in every trauma kit. Because of the tools and the personnel trained to use them, injured people can get the most from the golden hour.
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