Editors: Eric Legome, MD and Lee W. Schockley, MD
Publisher:  Cambridge University Press – 720 pages
Book Review by: Nano Khilnani

Most books on trauma are written from a surgical perspective, the editors – Dr. Eric Legome and Dr. Lee W. Shockley – point out in the Preface to this book. But many trauma patients are first treated by doctors trained in trauma care and management in emergency departments of hospitals, where urgent attention to, and quick and correct treatment of, their specific injury and condition is critical in saving their lives.

This book presents the many anatomic locations of traumatic injury caused by accidents, crashes, falls, overdose of certain drugs, and similar events, and recommends the proper courses of immediate action to prevent further deterioration of the patients’ conditions, and even death, and thereby save their lives.

Seventy-seven MDs (76 from all over the United States – including the two editors named above – and one from Israel) authored or coauthored the 42 chapters of this important book that we list below:

  1. Section I – Approach to Trauma
  2. Decision-making in trauma
  3. Initial approach to trauma
  4. Mechanism of injury
  5. Multiple casualties and disaster preparedness
  6. Trauma airway
  7. Section II – The Injured Patient
  8. Head trauma
  9. Oral and maxillofacial trauma
  10. Ocular trauma
  11. Neck trauma
  12. Injuries of the spine: Musculoskeletal
  13. Injuries of the spine: Nerve
  14. Chest trauma
  15. Abdominal trauma
  16. Genitourinary trauma
  17. Pelvic fracture
  18. Upper extremity orthopedic trauma
  19. Lower extremity orthopedic trauma
  20. Cutaneous injuries
  21. Soft tissue trauma
  22. Vascular trauma
  23. Section III – Special Considerations
  24. Trauma in pregnancy
  25. Geriatric trauma
  26. Medical concerns in trauma patients
  27. Sexual assault
  28. Injury prevention
  29. Rural trauma care
  30. Pain management
  31. Section IV – Imaging in Trauma
  32. Plain radiographs
  33. Ultrasound
  34. Computed tomography
  35. Angiography and interventional radiography
  36. Section V – Procedures and Skills
  37. Anesthesia
  38. Fluid and blood component therapy
  39. Trauma procedure I
  40. Trauma procedure II
  41. Wound management
  42. Universal / standard procedures
  43. Section VI – Administration
  44. Pre-hospital care
  45. Professionalism
  46. Communication and interpersonal issues in trauma
  47. Trauma research
  48. Trauma nursing

“Expert multidisciplinary care is recognized as the most important determinant of survival,” Drs. Legome and Schockley point out at the outset of this book.

While this book has been put together as a comprehensive resource for practicing emergency medicine physicians, it is also a valuable reference text for emergency medicine residents in training, as well as for physician assistants (PAs), nurse practitioners, and emergency nurses.

The surgical trauma specialist will also find insights on many types of cases treated in the emergency department.

In sum, the editors write that trauma care is a ‘team sport’ and many of the medical professionals in hospitals can benefit from the information provided, knowledge shared, and insight imparted by the authors of the various chapters in this book, an important resource to read and have as a keepsake.

 

Editors:

Eric Legome is Chief of Emergency Medicine at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.

Lee W. Schockley is Medical Director of the Emergency Department at The Denver Health Medical Center, and Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, Colorado.