Nonresuscitative aspects of the management of severe injuries.

Although resuscitation of seriously injured patients in the emergency department is the physician's primary consideration, there are other important aspects of overall care. These include attention to the patient's family and friends and their reaction to a loved one's serious injury or death, as well as the effect of the injuries and initial treatment upon the patient, particularly if he regains consciousness in an apparently unreal world, connected to machines by various tubes and unable to speak.