Traumatology

Traumatology (from Greek "Trauma" meaning injury or wound) is the study of woundsand injuriescaused by accidentsor violenceto a person, and the surgical treatmentand repair of the damage. Traumatology is a branch of medicine. It is often considered a subset of surgeryand in countries without the specialty of trauma surgery it is most often a subspecialty to orthopedic surgery. Traumatology may also be known as accident surgery.

Wounds and injuries are assessed as being serious or not serious (a process known as triage) upon admission to a hospital's Casualty department (Accident and Emergency A and E in UK, Emergency Rooms ER in US). A wound is usually caused by mechanical force, or sometimes by chemical reactions as in the case of burns.

Factors in the assessment of wounds are:

• the nature of the wound, whether it is a laceration, abrasion, bruise or burn
• the size of the wound in length, width and depth
• the extent of the overall area of tissue damage caused by the impact of a mechanical force, or the reaction to chemical agents in, for example, fires or exposure to caustic substances.

Forensic physicians, as well as pathologists may also be required to examine wounds (traumas) on persons alive or deceased.

See also

• Traumatologist

External links

• WikiMed
• TRAUMA.ORG, a non-profit organisation providing global education, information and communication resources for professionals in trauma and critical careca:Traumatologia

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatology Wikipedia article Traumatology.