Medical professionals need to understand the specific circumstances that cause injuries, known as the mechanism of injury, to prepare for challenges. Injury mechanisms are divided into categories and further broken down into specific descriptions. Motor vehicle accidents have three stages that can lead to injury. Examining the entire scene of an injury is necessary to determine the mechanism of injury.
The mechanism of injury describes the particular circumstances that caused a certain injury. Many medical professionals, including doctors and emergency medical technicians, need to be aware of a number of circumstances that lead to injuries. Knowledge of the specific mechanism of injury can prepare a clinician for the particular challenges an injured patient may present. Emergency medical professionals often consider various kinetic and physical details when evaluating and describing the circumstances and causes of an injury. The mechanism of an injury from an automobile accident, for example, will often be described in terms of the speed, angle and direction of the accident.
Injury mechanisms are generally divided into a variety of categories, such as motor vehicle accidents, rapid vertical decelerations, and penetrating trauma. These categories are further broken down into many considerably more specific and helpful descriptions relating to the exact type of injury that occurred. Penetrating trauma, for example, can be divided into stab wounds; gunshot wounds; and other types of penetrating injuries, such as falling on sharp objects in your work environment. These categories are often further broken down, as an EMT or other emergency physician is able to respond more quickly to an injury if they are prepared with a very precise and specific way someone was injured. A mechanism of injury that describes “a gunshot wound to the leg with a small caliber weapon” is more helpful than a vague description of “penetrating trauma.”
Motor vehicle accidents often require special attention if an injury mechanism is to be accurately described, since most motor vehicle accidents take place in three phases, each of which can lead to injury. In the first stage, vehicle impact, the car collides with another object, such as a lamp post or another car. In the second stage, body impact, an individual’s body in the car collides with parts of the car, such as the windshield or steering wheel. Organ impaction, the third stage, occurs when mobile organs in one’s body, such as the brain or gut, collide with supporting organs, such as the rib cage or skull. Examining each stage of an accident can provide insight into the nature and severity of the circumstances surrounding the injury.
It is often necessary to examine the entire scene of an injury, not just the injured individual, to determine the mechanism of the injury. A cracked windshield, for example, may indicate that an individual involved in an automobile accident was not properly fastened with a seat belt and flew out of his or her seat and collided with the windshield. Serious outward signs of trauma may not be visible, but a cracked windshield could indicate the possibility of more serious internal trauma.
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