IT’S TRAUMA TUESDAY

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For nurses and other clinicians practicing anywhere

along the trauma care spectrum

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Article of the Week

How well do you know pain?

All nurses treating trauma patients in the inpatient setting have experience managing acute pain. Skeletal fractures, solid organ injuries, and soft tissue injuries can hurt a lot! For years, opioids were used almost exclusively to treat acute pain, but current practice has evolved in favor of a more multimodal approach. 

This article reviews pain classifications and highlights evidence-based strategies, including pharmacologic treatments, to support nurses in providing effective and compassionate pain management.

Smith A. A guide to pain management: Unveiling the power of analgesics. Nursing made Incredibly Easy. 2025;23(2):21-29.

Trauma Happenings

AANN Neuro Specialty Quick Guides

External ventricular drains (EVD), intraparenchymal monitors (IPM), and brain tissue oxygenation (PBTO₂) sensors are not something the average trauma nurse uses on a daily basis. Therefore, it's hard to keep these skills current. Fortunately, the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) has prepared a Neuro Specialty Quick Guide to help you on the fly. 

These handy references provide an overview of neuro-monitoring modalities, common pearls, and management strategies for other neuro conditions and devices such as autonomic dysreflexia, lumbar drains, seizure and epilepsy, and more. Click the link to download your free Quick Guide.

What is SI?

You may have noticed that the new TCAR US and PCAR US manuals have two versions of Module 3, The Body's Response to Shock. There are both US and SI versions. But what's SI?

The International System of Units is commonly referred to by the abbreviation SI. The name comes from the French Système international (d'unités), which is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. 

Why aren't most Americans familiar with SI? There are only three countries in the world are not officially using the metric system: Liberia, Myanmar, and, yes, the United States. Countries such as Canada and South Korea prefer the US versions of the courses, but they use SI in their countries. By adding two versions of Module 3, we can accommodate more learners.

You can reveal a letter or the entire word if you get stuck

Fix Those Wounds With a Can of Smart Spray?

An international, multidisciplinary team of researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School has created a paint-on, see-through, “smart” bandage. When viewed with a simple camera or smartphone, the wound glows, forming an oxygenation-sensitive colormap. Because oxygen plays a critical role in tissue healing, identifying areas of high and low oxygen concentration could be used to quantitatively assess a wound's status. 

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