Trauma Unit

in the USSR, a department of a polyclinic set aside for the treatment of injuries. Trauma units offer such services as first-aid treatment of injuries by qualified personnel, traumatotherapy and orthopedic treatment (until full recovery) of patients not requiring hospitalization, and prophylactic observation of orthopedic cases on an outpatient basis (primarily in cases of impaired articulation of the joints and spine); other services provided by trauma units include consultation assistance in traumatology and orthopedics to city or raion medical treatment institutions as well as accident prevention services.

A trauma unit consists of a medical examination room, an X-ray room, an operating room, and separate rooms for dressing and bandaging wounds and applying plaster casts. Trauma units operate under the supervision of the head of a hospital’s trauma-tological or surgical department and the physician in charge of the polyclinic. In cities with a population of 100,000 or more, trauma units offer round-the-clock care. Patients may be brought to a trauma unit by ambulance; they may be referred for treatment by the polyclinic, or they may be self-referred.