How bystanders can help trauma victims

May is Trauma Awareness Month, and while many of us associate trauma with scenes from popular television dramas or movies, we generally don’t know what goes into assessing and treating traumatic injuries. A trauma surgeon with Baylor College of Medicine and Ben Taub Hospital explains the different types of traumas and what a bystander can do to help.

There are two main categories of trauma that people sustain. Penetrating traumas occur when an object pierces the skin and creates an open wound, such as a gunshot or stab wound. Blunt traumas occur when there is impact with the body, but the skin is not penetrated, such as injury in a car accident or fall.

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