Assessment of pelvic injury

Overview

The care of patients with major pelvic trauma is focussed on the identification of both mechanical and physiological instability and directing management towards the stabilisation of both. Different classification systems exist for pelvic injuries, some based on anatomical patterns and others reflective of mechanism of injury and need for operative management.

Pelvic injury occurs in 3% of patients who have sustained a skeletal injury, with the patients often being young with significant multisystem injury. Overall, the clinical care is targeted towards optimising the haemodynamic status, restoring the anatomical pelvic ring stability and managing the associated injuries. This often requires a multidisciplinary approach to manage the resuscitation, control the bleeding and stabilise the bony injury.

Description

This resource kit provides healthcare workers with knowledge of the clinical assessment and specific investigations required to identify and manage a patient suffering suspected pelvic trauma.

Learning objectives

By the end of this session the participant will be able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of clinical assessment in suspected pelvic trauma
• discuss the use of imaging studies in pelvic trauma
• recognise other investigations required for associated injuries in identified pelvic trauma.

Downloads

Further reading