Head injury is a common occurrence in motor vehicle accidents. There are numerous causes for cranial nerve injury that include head trauma or other lesions. Few studies regarding cranial nerve injury following mild head trauma (GCS: 14 - 15) exist in the literature. The oculomotor nerve is a somatic and visceral motor nerve. When it is completely injured the result is ptosis, pupils that are no...

Traumatic chest injury with complete tracheo- bronchial disruption is uncommon and occurs in approximately 1% of motor vehicle accidents (MVA) (1,2). Such injuries carry a high mortality and patients rarely survive transfer to hospital. A high index of suspicion facilitates early diagnosis. Early operative intervention is vital for survival. We describe a rare case of traumatic complete disrupt...

The incidence of brachial plexus injuries is rapidly growing due to the increasing number of high-speed motor-vehicle accidents. These are devastating injuries leading to significant functional impairment of the patients. The purpose of this review paper is to present the available options for conservative and operative treatment and discuss the correct timing of intervention. Reported outcomes...

raumatic tricuspid valve regurgitation (TR) is a rare disease, typically caused by blunt chest trauma secondary to motor vehicle accidents.1 The frequency of traumatic TR has increased over the past 40 years, but the disease may be underestimated because many patients experience few or no symptoms early after the trauma.2 Although the diagnosis is usually confirmed on 2-D transthoracic echocard...

Cervical spine injuries represent a minority of injury cases in motor vehicles accidents but are a real threat to a patient's life. In the wide range of cervical spine injuries, odontoid (dens) fractures represent the most common findings. These fractures are more usually found in the elderly population due to the changes associated with age. Neurological deficit is not frequently found in thes...

It is estimated that smoking results in more deaths each year in the United States than alcohol, cocaine, heroin, AIDS, suicide, homicide, motor vehicle accidents, and fires combined (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2000). With about 8 out of 10 adult smokers in the United States having tried their first cigarette before age 18 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 1994), i...

Traumatic injuries of the cervical spine are frequent, especially following motor vehicle accidents [1]. Multiple lesions predominate, with a variable distribution according to vertebra I level and anatomic structure [2, 3]. Injury to the intervertebral disk has been seen in slightly less than one-third of patients [2,3]. A patient with a neck injury developed obvious radiographic signs of spin...

Medical errors became a common topic of conversation with the release of the Institute of Medicine's "To Err Is Human" in November of 1999. This release reported that as many as 98,000 people die each year from inpatient medical errors. Putting this into perspective, deaths from medical errors surpassed deaths from breast cancer, motor vehicle accidents, and AIDS. Furthermore, medication errors...

Patients with cancer tend to suffer sleep-wake disturbances at a higher rate than the general population. Insomnia and fatigue should be regarded as a significant patient safety issue, as poor sleep can elevate patients' risks of falls, motor vehicle accidents, and acute infectious illnesses. To alleviate those risks, oncology nurses should be familiar with effective evidence-based practices fo...

Many diseases are more common among Latinos/as than nonHispanic Whites. Rates of teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, diabetes, cirrhosis and cervical cancer are higher among Latinos/as. In particular, rates of alcohol abuse, motor vehicle accidents and interpersonal trauma are higher among Hispanic migrant farm workers. Furthermore, Latinas, including those in farming communit...