IT’S TRAUMA TUESDAY is

a Free Weekly Newsletter

Brought to you by TCAR Education Programs

For nurses and other clinicians practicing anywhere

along the trauma care spectrum

Take a quick test of your trauma care knowledge

Article of the Week

Challenges in Neurocritical Care

This review highlights key considerations when caring for patients recovering from acute brain injury after neurosurgical or interventional procedures. For trauma nurses at the bedside, the authors emphasize preventing secondary brain injury by maintaining adequate oxygenation and avoiding anemia, suggesting that slightly higher hemoglobin levels may be beneficial in this population. They also recommend prioritizing isotonic saline for fluid resuscitation and exercising caution with certain balanced fluids that could worsen outcomes in trauma patients. 

The article underscores the growing role of noninvasive monitoring techniques for tracking intracranial pressure trends and the careful coordination required when initiating, discontinuing, or reversing anticoagulation therapy. 

Click the link to view the article or watch a short AI-generated article summary (5 min 01 sec).

Picetti E, Baggiani M, Taccone FS. Critical care challenges after brain surgery and interventional neuroradiology. Curr Opin Crit Care. 2025;31(6):782-790.

Trauma Happenings

May is Trauma Awareness Month

In honor of Trauma Awareness Month, the American Trauma Society is offering a FREE webinar on Distracted Driving. Participants will learn evidence-based strategies that individuals and communities can use to reduce distractions and improve roadway safety. This year’s theme is Stay Safe. Stay Focused.

Click the link below to register for the event.

Hot off the Press! TEP's New Trauma Clinical Reference

The NEW Trauma Clinical Reference is a 150-page, full-color, fully illustrated trauma resource featuring charts, tables, diagrams, and other key details from the TCAR and PCAR courses, as well as many other sources. The pages of this durable, flat-lay, spiral-bound book are waterproof, bloodproof, coffee-proof, alcohol wipe-proof, and highly tear-resistant. Color-coded sections make the information nurse-friendly and easy to locate for regular bedside use. 

The Trauma Clinical Reference is priced at $150 plus tax (US dollars) and includes free shipping within the US and Canada. Click the link below to view sample pages and ordering information.

Transfusion Time Machine

For most of the 1800s, transfusions had one major limitation: blood clots quickly! If you wanted to transfer blood from one person to another, you had to do it directly, vein-to-vein. No storage. No transport. It was basically impossible to perform blood transfusions in emergency situations.

The breakthrough came in 1914. In Brussels, Belgium, physician Albert Hustin showed that adding sodium citrate to blood prevented clotting. Citrate binds calcium, and without calcium, the clotting cascade can’t proceed; one reason hypocalcemia is now included in the Trauma Diamond of Death.

On March 27, 1914, Dr. Hustin performed the first successful indirect blood transfusion at Brussels’ Saint Jean Hospital. 150 mL of stored, citrated blood was administered to an anemic patient. No complications. It worked! This singular discovery led almost immediately to blood banking as we know it today.

And then there was the issue of blood typing to be solved . . . 

TCAR Education Programs
tcarprograms.org
info@tcarprograms.org
Office: (503) 608-4900
International Toll-Free: +1 800-800-2015

Copyright © 2026 TCAR Education Programs. All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because you opted in by purchasing or registering for a course or subscribing to our newsletter on our website.

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe