Up-to-date trauma care: Review of international literature

Research and knowledge of trauma care after serious life events has evolved during the past decade. Today, many international guidelines and consensus reports are solid scientifically based documents. These provide guidelines for the development of modern trauma care within the community, both for survivors and emergency/assistance personnel.

The majority of individuals who experience serious life events usually do not develop chronic problems. The aim of providing aid is to support an individual’s healing process and to identify those individuals who need support over a longer period of time. A rigid support model where “one size fits all,” should be avoided and instead the specific needs an individual, family or group should be focused on. The founding principles of trauma care are; to lead survivors into safety, calm those in most need, strengthen reliance in one’s own capabilities and the capabilities of the community, organize, if possible, and encourage social support and instill the feeling of hope.

So-called “support centers” can be a structural and organizational form of community support. A hands-on crises support approach, based on the scientific model summarized in “The screen and treat model,” given the acronym “STOUB” in Norwegian. This stands for ST- STøtte (Norwegian) -support, O-Oppfølging (Norwegian) – follow-up, U-Utredning (Norwegian) screen, and B-Behandling (Norwegian) – treatment. This model of trauma care can be tailored to both survivors and assistance personnel.  Support comprises primarily of psychological first-aid during the acute phase. Follow-up is finding individuals who can serve as contacts and to pro-actively contact survivors. Screening is evaluating and selecting individuals who are in need of more support. Treatment is providing evidence based, trauma focused treatment methods for those individuals who need treatment.