Okuzeka
Emergency Medicine & First Aid vocabulary · Trauma and Injuries

Head injury

Meaning in emergency medicine & first aid, with examples

/ˈhed ˌɪndʒəri/nounCore term

In emergency medicine & first aid, head injury means: Any injury to the scalp, skull or brain, from a minor bump to a serious brain injury with bleeding or swelling inside the skull.

In Turkish: kafa travması, kafa yaralanması

How it is used

Very common in falls, sport and road crashes. Crews ask about loss of consciousness, vomiting, memory and blood-thinning drugs, and many patients get a CT scan. Clinicians use 'traumatic brain injury' (TBI) for damage to the brain itself, and patients going home receive written 'head injury advice'.

Example sentences

  1. Elderly lady, fell down the stairs, head injury, on blood thinners.

  2. He was kept in overnight for observation after the head injury.

Common collocations

  • minor head injury
  • severe head injury
  • head injury advice
  • traumatic brain injury
  • concussionA mild brain injury caused by a blow or jolt to the head, which can cause headache, confusion, dizziness and memory problems, usually for a short time.
  • GCSShort for Glasgow Coma Scale: a score from 3 to 15 for level of consciousness, based on how a patient opens their eyes, speaks and moves.
  • traumaPhysical injury to the body caused by an outside force, such as a road crash, a fall, an assault or an explosion, especially when it is serious.
  • spinal injuryDamage to the bones of the spine or to the spinal cord inside them, which can cause pain, numbness, weakness or paralysis below the injury.

More terms: Trauma and Injuries

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.