IT’S TRAUMA TUESDAY is

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For nurses and other clinicians practicing anywhere

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Article of the Week

Child Abuse Statistics and What They Mean

This study examined what happens to children under age two after they come to the emergency department with a “sentinel injury,” such as unexplained bruising or a small fracture, which can be an early warning sign for abuse. Using an extensive dataset, the authors found that most abusive injuries were recognized during the first ED visit, and the number of children who later returned with life-threatening abuse was uncommon (well under 1%). 

For bedside trauma and ED nurses, the key takeaway is that early recognition matters: infants who were identified as abused on the first visit were at the highest risk for future harm, reinforcing the importance of careful assessment, thorough documentation, and speaking up about concerning patterns or history that don’t match the injury. While the study suggests current screening practices are generally working, it also emphasizes the need for better tools to sort “high-risk” from “likely accidental” injuries, so we can protect vulnerable children while minimizing unnecessary, stressful investigations for families.

Click the link to view the article or click the link to watch a short AI-generated article summary (6 min 29 sec).

Mitrano SM, Michelson KA, Monuteaux MC, Lindberg DM, Farrell CA, Li J. Sentinel Injuries in Emergency Departments and Subsequent Serious Injury in Children. Ann Emerg Med. 2025.

Trauma Happenings

National Burn Awareness Week, February 1-7, 2026

Are you prepared to care for burn patients? Globally, burn injuries remain a major cause of preventable harm, especially in low- and middle-income countries, with the WHO estimating around 180,000 deaths each year. Although the burden of injury is lower in high-income countries, there are approximately 30,000 burn admissions per year in the US alone.

Many burns involve only a small total body surface area, yet they can still be high-risk, depending on factors such as airway involvement, burn location (hands, face, or genitals), injury mechanism (electrical or chemical), patient age, and delayed presentation.

In recent years, the American Burn Association (ABA) has greatly simplified its recommendations for emergent burn care. No more calculating the Parkland formula! If you’ve been considering Advanced Burn Life Support (ABLS) certification, the ABA offers flexible, online learning options that help you build your knowledge and confidence in early burn care—even if you don’t work in a dedicated burn center. Click to learn more about ABLS.

The results are in!

It has been 1 year since TCAR Education Programs implemented an 80% posttest score requirement for TCAR and PCAR verification. TCAR learners took up to the challenge, and here are the results: learners are passing the posttests with an average score of 89%. Nice job!

Speak Like a Pro

Concomitant: Something that occurs with another event and is connected to it. This is a very handy and commonly used medical term, but its pronunciation trips up many healthcare professionals.

Pronounced: kon-KOM-i-tunt, with the emphasis on the second syllable.

Click the link to hear it pronounced on the Dictionary.com site!
 

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