Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can range from mild to severe with decision rules available to determine the need for imaging to exclude intra-cranial pathology (Stiell et al. 2005), (Crowe et al. 2010). Initial management is focussed on preventing secondary negative outcomes, with neuroprotective measures and early referral to definitive care.
Following injury, patients may have ongoing clinical symptoms for 3-12 months depending on severity of initial injury. Additionally, the features of post concussive syndrome may persist prompting medical review (Ingebrigtsen 1998). Return to normal activity after a TBI considering sport, work and driving follows a graded approach and should be targeted for the individual patient (Clinical Excellence Queensland 2018).
Training resource kits
Each kit is a collection of tools and resources to guide the effective delivery of a trauma education event. The kits are designed for use in any Queensland Health facility and can be modified by the facilitator to the needs of the learner, as well as the environment in which the education is being delivered.
Immersive scenario
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge and skills on how to assess and manage a closed head injury following traumatic incident.
Duration: 45-60 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
Procedural skill
This package is designed to highlight the importance of and how to perform a structured approach Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) in the assessment of a trauma scenario. It is intended to provide guidance to a facilitator on the instruction of participants in the use of the Glasgow Coma Scale following trauma using case examples.
Duration: 30-45 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical, nursing and allied health clinicians.
Case discussion
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge on how to effectively assess and manage a closed head injury following a traumatic incident.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
This package is designed to highlight the challenges in traumatic brain injury assessment and familiarise the learner with indications and interpretation of advanced imaging.
Duration: 30-45 minutes.
Target Audience: Junior medical officers and nursing staff.
This resource kit provides a learning framework for the assessment and management of the elderly patient with traumatic brain injury.
Duration: 20 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department nursing clinicians.
Role play
This resource is for facilitators to explore the discharge management of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) after initial assessment and treatment.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical, nursing and allied health clinicians.
Help us make these training resource kits better – complete our short survey or contact us with any feedback.
Clinical guidelines
Links to relevant clinical guidelines.
Other resources
Other resources and tools on the topic of traumatic brain injury.
Clinical resources
Clinical assessment tools
Clinical decision-making tools
Patient information guides
Videos
Trauma and resultant physical injury occur in up to 8% of all pregnancies and is the highest risk for non-obstetric mortality in pregnant patients (Huls, Detlefs 2018). This is commonly from traffic related injury and domestic and family violence related assault.
In the pregnant patient there are specific considerations that must be incorporated into both clinical assessment and management for best outcomes for both the patient and fetal well-being. These are related to the changes in physiology and anatomy during pregnancy, consideration around radiation exposure and monitoring for fetal and obstetric complications following the traumatic event (Queensland Health 2019).
Training resource kits
Each kit is a collection of tools and resources to guide the effective delivery of a trauma education event. The kits are designed for use in any Queensland Health facility and can be modified by the facilitator to the needs of the learner, as well as the environment in which the education is being delivered.
Immersive scenario
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the ability to recognise the indications and perform a resuscitative hysterotomy in a pregnant patient who has sustained significant trauma.
Duration: 45-60 minutes
Target audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians, obstetric medical and midwifery clinicians
This resource kit Provides participants with the basic knowledge and skills on how to assess and manage placental abruption following a traumatic incident.
Duration: 45-60 minutes
Target audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians. Obstetric medical staff and midwives.
This resource kit provides an opportunity to develop skills when caring for trauma patients
who are pregnant.
Duration: 30 minutes
Target audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
Help us make these training resource kits better – complete our short survey or contact us with any feedback.
Clinical guidelines
Links to relevant clinical guidelines.
Other resources
Other resources and tools on the topic of trauma in pregnancy.
Courses
Videos
Flowcharts
Trauma involving older individuals presents different challenges in assessment and management when compared to younger patients. This has been recognised across the world with The American Associate for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) creating the Geriatric Trauma Coalition in 2015 to develop best practice guidelines to aid management in this cohort.
Older patients may experience significant injury despite seemingly trivial mechanisms and pose challenges in assessment due to altered baseline vital signs due to changes in physiological reserve, medications and underlying medical conditions. Shock and major injury may be under recognised due to attribution of symptoms to medications, long standing cognitive decline and under triage of the event mechanism. (De Simone et al, 2024)
In addition to standard inpatient trauma care, attention to frailty scores, early geriatric review or advice and consideration of management of underlying medical illnesses will aid discharge planning and avoid complications. Many studies have demonstrated that the older patient is at higher risk of not returning to their previous functional level after a traumatic injury.
Training resource kits
Each kit is a collection of tools and resources to guide the effective delivery of a trauma education event. The kits are designed for use in any Queensland Health facility and can be modified by the facilitator to the needs of the learner, as well as the environment in which the education is being delivered.
Immersive scenario
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge and skills for the assessment and management of traumatic brain injury in the geriatric population.
Duration: 45-60 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians. Allied health – pharmacists.
Case discussion
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge to effectively assess and manage the elderly patient with blunt chest trauma.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience:Medical and nursing clinicians who care for elderly patients.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge to assess and manage a geriatric patient with low velocity pelvic trauma with multisystem injury found upon further imaging.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Medical and nursing clinicians.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge regarding the assessment and management of an elderly patient with a mild traumatic brain injury who is anticoagulated.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Medical and nursing clinicians.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge of assessment and management of major pelvic injury in the geriatric population.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
Clinical guidelines
Trauma in older adults CPG describes core principles for the management of traumatic injuries in older adults who present to Queensland Health Hospital and Health Services, including rural and remote facilities.
Other resources
Other resources and tools on the topic of trauma and the older person.
Clinical resources
Videos
Chest trauma is well recognised to occur following high velocity trauma such as traffic related injury, but frequently occurs as the result of falls and low velocity injury in the elderly (Curtis et al. 2016).
The management of chest trauma has demonstrated the need for multi-modal care, including pain relief, physiotherapy, respiratory interventions and more recently the options for surgical stabilisation (Barrett-Connor et al. 2010), (Kourouche et al. 2018).
Training resource kits
Each kit is a collection of tools and resources to guide the effective delivery of a trauma education event. The kits are designed for use in any Queensland Health facility and can be modified by the facilitator to the needs of the learner, as well as the environment in which the education is being delivered.
Immersive scenario
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with useful resources and key practice points to assist them to identify and manage respiratory complications in patients following blunt chest trauma injuries.
Duration: 45-60 minutes
Target Audience: Ward-based nursing and physiotherapy clinicians.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the skills and knowledge to effectively assess and manage a patient suffering blunt chest trauma injuries. The scenario encompasses the decision making and procedural skill for insertion of an intercostal catheter to manage a traumatic haemo-pneumothorax.
Duration: 45-60 minutes
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the skills to assess and manage low velocity penetrating chest wall trauma. The scenario encompasses the decision making and procedural skill for insertion of an intercostal catheter to manage a traumatic haemo-pneumothorax.
Duration: 45-60 minutes
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
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Procedural skill
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with knowledge of the technical skills required
for the set up and insertion of an intercostal catheter (ICC) and chest drain system
management for the management of haemothorax or pneumothorax following trauma.
Duration: 45 minutes.
Target Audience: Medical and nursing clinicians.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with knowledge of the technical skills required for the insertion of an intercostal catheter (ICC) for the management of haemothorax or pneumothorax following trauma.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Medical clinicians.
This resource kit provides the learner with the opportunity to explore ventilation strategies for different trauma presentations.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Medical and nursing clinicians.
Case discussion
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge and skills on how to optimise the management of a patient with an ICC and chest drainage systems following a traumatic chest injury.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Medical, nursing, and allied health clinicians.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge and skills to perform the insertion of an intercostal catheter (ICC) to manage a patient with blunt chest trauma, including the indications and considerations for ICC placement.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical, nursing and allied health clinicians.
This resource kit provides an opportunity to explore the assessment and management of patients who sustain chest trauma.
Duration: 20 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department nursing clinicians.
This resource kit provides case-based scenario to discuss the investigation and management options for a patient with possible blunt cardiac injury following trauma.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
This resource kit provides the opportunity to discuss the management of patients with blunt chest trauma.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
Clinical guidelines
Links to relevant clinical guidelines
Clinical Excellence Queensland’s Blunt Chest Trauma CPG – Blunt chest trauma refers to any injury of the chest wall or within the thoracic cavity arising from a blunt mechanism or force.
Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) have advice and recommendations to help guide clinical decision making and optimise patient care and safety.
Queensland Aeromedical’s Standard Operating Procedure for Chest Trauma
Other resources
Other resources and tools on the topic of chest trauma.
Clinical resources
Flowcharts
Videos
Clinical Specialists from retrievals, emergency, surgical, anaesthetics, intensive care, nursing and allied health provide an insight into the journey of a patient who has sustained major trauma in far north Queensland. Key practice points from the Blunt Chest Trauma clinical guideline are used to highlight the importance of an integrated and cohesive trauma system.
Clinical Specialists from retrievals, emergency, surgical, anaesthetics, intensive care, nursing and allied health provide an insight into the journey of a patient who has sustained major trauma in far north Queensland. Key practice points from the Blunt Chest Trauma clinical guideline are used to highlight the importance of an integrated and cohesive trauma system.
An education session for ward nurses that reviews the relevant chest anatomy for assessment of patients with suspected blunt chest trauma
An education session that discusses chest injury rehabilitation
An education session for ward nurses that discusses benefits, adjuncts, and problems of regional analgesia.
How to teach Airlife Incentive Spirometer by Queensland Trauma Education
How to teach Triflo Incentive Spirometer by Queensland Trauma Education
This video will demonstrate the application of the pelvic binder for suspected or confirmed pelvic injury.
Burns can occur following trauma with thermal, electrical or chemical energy. The burn severity is calculated after assessment of depth, size and body location involved. In particular, if inhalational burns are present this increases the severity and need for advanced intervention in a specialised environment.
Less severe burns, and those not involving special areas can be safely managed in the outpatient setting with advice regarding dressings and review plan.
With all burns however, confirmation that first aid has been undertaken, an assessment of risk with other past medical and social history ascertained and attention to wound care and tetanus prophylaxis is warranted prior to discharge.
The Professor Pegg Adult Burns Centre at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) is the referral centre for all significant burns in adult patients across Queensland, northern New South Wales, the Northern Territory and the Pacific Islands. Clinicians can seek advice by completing the online burns referral form or contacting the burns team directly via RBWH switch.
Training resource kits
Each kit is a collection of tools and resources to guide the effective delivery of a trauma education event. The kits are designed for use in any Queensland Health facility and can be modified by the facilitator to the needs of the learner, as well as the environment in which the education is being delivered.
Immersive scenario
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with knowledge and skills to effectively manage a patient with thermal facial burns.
Duration: 60 minutes.
Target audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
Case discussion
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge of indications for escharotomy in severe burns including the critical procedural steps.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with knowledge on how to recognise and effectively manage a patient with thermal burns to special areas.
Duration: 30-45 minutes
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians, allied health clinicians.
Help us make these training resource kits better – complete our short survey or contact us with any feedback.
Other resources
Other resources and tools on the topic of burns trauma.
Clinical assessment tools
Clinical resources
Patient information guides
Abdominal trauma occurs in approximately one-fifth of all trauma presentations and can be challenging to diagnose and manage (Australian Trauma Quality Improvement Program 2012).
Blunt abdominal trauma following falls and road traffic crashes are responsible for most of the presentation when compared to penetrating trauma. Recognition of the different diagnostic pathways for blunt and penetrating trauma is related to the likelihood of local vs diffuse injury. In all mechanisms the aim of assessment is to identify life threatening haemorrhage, organ and hollow viscus injury to determine the urgency and type of intervention if required (Victorian State Trauma System 2021).
Training resource kits
Each kit is a collection of tools and resources to guide the effective delivery of a trauma education event. The kits are designed for use in any Queensland Health facility and can be modified by the facilitator to the needs of the learner, as well as the environment in which the education is being delivered.
Immersive scenario
This resource kit provides learners the opportunity to explore the management of a patient with splenic injury.
Duration: 45-60 minutes
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge and skills to assess and manage a patient with blunt abdominal trauma, long bone fracture and haemodynamic instability.
Duration: 45-60 minutes
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
This resource kit provides a framework for the assessment and management of a patient with blunt abdominal and orthopaedic trauma.
Duration: 45-60 minutes
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians in a rural setting.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge and skills to assess and manage a patient with blunt abdominal trauma.
Duration: 45-60 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
Case discussion
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with an understanding of the diagnostic and therapeutic methods utilised for the optimal management of blunt hepatic trauma.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical, nursing and allied health clinicians.
This resource kit provides healthcare workers with the knowledge of how to effectively perform an assessment on a patient with blunt renal trauma injury.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Target Audience: Emergency department medical and nursing clinicians.
Help us make these training resource kits better – complete our short survey or contact us with any feedback.
Clinical guidelines
This clinical practice guideline, developed by Clinical Excellence Queensland, outlines the assessment and management of patients presenting to hospital with blunt splenic injury.
Other resources
Other resources and tools on the topic of abdominal trauma.
Clinical resources
Flowcharts
