IT’S TRAUMA TUESDAY is

a Free Weekly Newsletter

Brought to you by TCAR Education Programs

For nurses and other clinicians practicing anywhere

along the trauma care spectrum

Take a quick test of your trauma care knowledge

Article of the Week

Managing Brain Death and Organ Donation in the ICU

Trauma nurses play a crucial role in caring for critically injured patients, a few of whom, unfortunately, progress to brain death. The bedside management of these patients directly influences the success of organ recovery and the lives of recipients. Optimizing donor physiology is a multidisciplinary effort, essential for increasing both the number and quality of organs available for transplantation.

This review discusses various aspects of caring for brain-dead patients during the donation process. The authors identify key parameters for successful transplantation and provide recommendations for managing hemodynamic, respiratory, endocrine, hematologic, and infectious complications. 

Click the link to view the article or watch a short AI-generated article summary (6 min 10 sec).

Swanson EA, Hayes AJ, Malinoski DJ. Optimization of physiology in organ donors in the intensive care unit: What you need to know. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. Aug 1 2025;99(2):162-168.

Media of the Month

At the Heart of Critical Care

This book, Every Deep-Drawn Breath, offers a compelling mix of science, medical history, and deeply human patient stories as Dr. Wes Ely documents his mission to reduce the unintended harm caused by life-saving ICU technology. His groundbreaking research on minimizing sedation, encouraging early mobility, and supporting recovery has transformed critical care into a more person-centered approach. 

Dr. Ely's work has been foundational to the widespread adoption of ICU liberation bundles nationwide and globally. This insightful book demonstrates how “technology plus touch” can restore humanity in the ICU and boost long-term outcomes for survivors.

Get your Kindle, paper, or Audible copy at the Amazon link below.

Can't See the Weekly Quiz or Other Objects in the Newsletter?

For reasons unfathomable to those of us who are not tech specialists, some iPhone and iPad users (including me!) now only see large blank spaces where the weekly quiz is supposed to be. Who knows why this has spontaneously occurred in the past few weeks, but the TEP IT team is trying to figure it out. In the meantime, you can circumvent the problem by clicking the "View in browser" button just under the Trauma Tuesday logo.

Eponymous Trauma Terms

Eponym: the name of an object or activity that is also the name of the person who first created the object or performed the activity.

If you’ve ever checked a Babinski reflex, assessed for the Hoffmann sign, applied a Sager splint, or had a patient with a Morel-Lavallée lesion, then you’ve encountered trauma eponyms. Nearly all are named after the physician who pioneered or invented them, a surprising number of whom seem to be French or German. 

This engaging Journal of Trauma and Injury article explains several trauma eponyms first coined between 1837 and 1950. Click the link below.

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