Overview
Preventing road traffic injuries from occurring should be the main goal to be pursued, but the reality is that crashes continue to occur. Society therefore has to be prepared to mitigate the consequences of crashes and enhance the quality of life of people who are injured. The aim of post-crash care is to avoid preventable death and disability, limit the severity of the injury and the suffering caused by it, and ensure the crash survivor’s best possible recovery and reintegration into society. The way in which persons injured in road traffic crashes are dealt with following a crash determines their chances and the quality of survival. In this unit, we discuss the chain of help for people injured in road traffic collisions. The unit discusses three components of post-crash care: pre-hospital, hospital and rehabilitation.
Objectives
By the end of this unit, the trainee should be able to:
- describe the main actions that need to be taken soon after a road traffic collision has occurred;
- discuss the key resources and organization needed for hospital care;
- discuss ways of providing rehabilitation services to injured persons;
- examine the quality of post-crash care in the trainee’s own setting.