Major trauma
Follow a prioritised assessment of an injured patient and understand how the trauma team works.
Clinical learning outcomes: Awaiting named clinical review.
What you should learn
- Recognise injury patterns and physiological findings that need immediate senior help.
- Explain initial priorities, haemorrhage control and appropriate spinal protection.
Recognise and explain
- Understand how prehospital handover, trauma units and major trauma centres connect.
On your placement
Agree an observed role with the team; practise the structured assessment in simulation.
- Listen to a trauma handover and identify the immediate priorities.
- Practise a structured trauma assessment in simulation.
- Discuss repeated observations, spinal precautions and haemorrhage escalation with the team.
Observe and understand
- Observe trauma-team leadership, emergency anaesthesia and advanced procedures.
Observation does not establish competence to perform these activities.
Start here
MLA: trauma priorities and current guidance
Locate the major-trauma and head/spinal-injury guidance; choose an observed or supervised task with the team.
Current guidance
NICE NG39: major trauma
Focus on initial assessment, haemorrhage and immediate priorities; discuss specialist procedures as part of observed trauma-team care.
NICE NG41: spinal injury
Read when spinal protection and further assessment are needed; apply the local pathway with a supervising clinician.
On your next shift
Ask which finding changed the team’s priorities during one trauma assessment.
Go deeper
Optional material. Advanced resources extend discussion; they do not define independent student practice. Check the publication date and compare clinical advice with current guidance.
MLA: prepare and participate in the team
Prepare, communicate and ask for help as a member of the team.
How this relates to GMC graduate outcomes and the MLA
These are St Emlyn’s learning connections, not a claim that this page covers every national requirement.
Presentations and conditions: Major trauma; Haemorrhage.
Clinical and professional capabilities: Assessment and clinical reasoning; Recognising limits and seeking help.
St Emlyn’s interpretation of relevant GMC graduate outcomes and MLA themes; these are summary labels, not official topic codes or a complete curriculum.
Explore the student placement programme
Student practice and graduate expectations
About this resource and its review
A St Emlyn’s guide to learning Emergency Medicine during undergraduate placements. It is not an official medical-school or GMC curriculum. Your medical school’s curriculum and assessment requirements take precedence.
National foundations: GMC Outcomes for Graduates, the practical-skills supplement and the MLA content map applying from September 2026.
Framework checked: 8 October 2026. This is a source check, not clinical sign-off.
Clinical learning outcomes: awaiting named clinical review.
The four learning routes are St Emlyn’s groupings. The six interconnected MLA domains remain part of the official content map.