CAISS Exam Study Guide: AIS Coding and Injury Severity, Exams of Nursing

This document serves as a study guide for the caiss (certified abbreviated injury scaling specialist) exam, focusing on the abbreviated injury scale (ais). It covers fundamental concepts, coding principles, and the injury severity score (iss). The guide includes questions and answers related to ais severity rankings, anatomical descriptors, and the application of ais codes in various injury scenarios. It also addresses the rules and guidelines for accurate injury coding, including the differentiation between injuries, sequelae, and complications. This study guide is designed to help students and professionals prepare for the caiss exam by providing a comprehensive review of key ais concepts and coding practices. It emphasizes the importance of accurate coding for effective trauma data analysis and research. The guide also covers the structure of ais codes, the definition of the 'average' patient in ais coding, and the proper coding of penetrating injuries.

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2024/2025

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CAISS Exam Study Guide | Correct
Answers |Latest 2025
Origins of AIS (3) - ✔✔
1) Standardized system
2) Classify type/severity of injury from MVC
3) Consensus
Injury descriptors are organized ? - ✔✔Anatomically
Injury severity is ranked relative to its importance to _? - ✔✔The whole body
AIS reflects severity of single injuries and are unaffected by what three things? - ✔✔
1) time
2) sequela
3) outcome
What type of scale does AIS use? - ✔✔6 point ordinal scale
Which type of measurement is more variable? Anatomic or Physiologic? - ✔✔Physiologic
Is clinical training necessary for collecting injury data? - ✔✔NO
AIS is based on what three (3) factors? - ✔✔
1) anatomically- based
2) consensus driven
3) global
Severity is NOT contingent upon what two (2) factors? - ✔✔
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CAISS Exam Study Guide | Correct

Answers |Latest 2025

Origins of AIS ( 3 ) - ✔✔ 1 ) Standardized system 2 ) Classify type/severity of injury from MVC 3 ) Consensus Injury descriptors are organized? - ✔✔Anatomically Injury severity is ranked relative to its importance to _? - ✔✔The whole body AIS reflects severity of single injuries and are unaffected by what three things? - ✔✔ 1 ) time 2 ) sequela 3 ) outcome What type of scale does AIS use? - ✔✔ 6 point ordinal scale Which type of measurement is more variable? Anatomic or Physiologic? - ✔✔Physiologic Is clinical training necessary for collecting injury data? - ✔✔NO AIS is based on what three ( 3 ) factors? - ✔✔ 1 ) anatomically- based 2 ) consensus driven 3 ) global Severity is NOT contingent upon what two ( 2 ) factors? - ✔✔

1 ) Outcome 2 ) time Numerical ranking of severity: 1 - ✔✔minor Numerical ranking of severity: 2 - ✔✔moderate Numerical ranking of severity: 3 - ✔✔serious Numerical ranking of severity: 4 - ✔✔severe Numerical ranking of severity: 5 - ✔✔critical Numerical ranking of severity: 6 - ✔✔maximum (currently untreatable) Is mortality a sole determinant of AIS severity? - ✔✔NO Are all AIS data comparable from year to year? - ✔✔NO (updates) Is "DEATH" part of the severity scale? - ✔✔NO Is a patient who dies automatically assigned the highest AIS severity of 6? - ✔✔NO (patients w/ minor injuries can die) Does a linear relationship exist between AIS severity codes? - ✔✔NO (AIS 4 is more, NOT twice as severe as AIS 2 ) Are all injuries within the same AIS code strictly compatible? - ✔✔NO (tibia fx & alveolar ridge are both AIS - 2 , although one may be worse than the other, both are considered 'moderate')

Brackets in the AIS dictionary indicate what? - ✔✔inclusionary/exclusionary info, OIS Grades Boxed bold type in the AIS dictionary indicates what? - ✔✔directions to help coder choose appropriate code Semicolons in the AIS dictionary indicate what? - ✔✔separate injury descriptors that are comparable in severity Italics in the AIS dictionary indicate what? - ✔✔proper-named injuries/structures, OIS grades Does AIS assess the severity of multiple injuries? - ✔✔NO (single injury severity only) The injury Severity Score (ISS) is defined as what? - ✔✔Sum of the squares of highest AIS in each of three most severely injured ISS body regions. What are the six body regions used in the ISS? - ✔✔ 1 ) head & neck 2 ) face 3 ) chest 4 ) abdomen & pelvic organs 5 ) extremities & pelvis 6 ) external Asphyxia is assigned to which ISS region? - ✔✔Head and Neck Drowning is assigned to which ISS region? - ✔✔Chest Lumbar spine lesions would be assigned to which ISS region? - ✔✔Abdomen & pelvic contents Are external injuries coded independent of their body region? - ✔✔YES

Hypothermia, electrical injuries, and whole body injuries are coded to which ISS region? - ✔✔External The ISS score ranged from to? - ✔✔ 1 to 75 What are the two ways an ISS of 75 can be achieved? - ✔✔ 1 ) AIS of 5 in each of three different body regions 2 ) AIS of 6 in a single body region Do patients with an AIS 9 achieve an accurate ISS score? - ✔✔NO Can less than three regions be used to calculate an ISS? - ✔✔YES Can more than three regions be used to calculate an ISS? - ✔✔NO Do all ISS scores have the same mortality rates? - ✔✔NO (depends on body regions affected) Assigning injuries to too few body regions results in what? - ✔✔underestimation of ISS Assigning injuries to too many body regions results in what? - ✔✔overestimation of ISS Are complications or sequela included in the definition of an injury? - ✔✔NO Define injury? - ✔✔Anatomic lesion resulting from transfer of injury. List seven ( 7 ) examples of sequela that are coded in AIS as injuries? - ✔✔ 1 ) HTX/PTX 2 ) retroperitoneal hemorrhage 3 ) cerebral edema/swelling 4 ) ischemic brain damage r/t head trauma 5 ) blood loss 6 ) asphyxia

Is death automatically coded as an AIS 6? - ✔✔NO Can an AIS of 1 result in death? - ✔✔YES (rare) Are cord lesions and vertebral fxs coded separately? - ✔✔NO What is important to look for when coding blunt trauma? - ✔✔associated/underlying injuries Penetrating injuries that do not injure underlying structures should be coded in what ISS body region? - ✔✔External Injuries that result from energy dissipated from a penetrating wound are called direct or indirect? - ✔✔indirect With penetrating injuries to internal structures, is the overlying skin injury coded separately? - ✔✔NO Bullet wounds/penetrating injuries resulting in fx are coded as open or closed fractures? - ✔✔OPEN When detailed information regarding an injury is lacking, what descriptor is often used? - ✔✔NFS NFS can refer to what two components of a code? - ✔✔ 1 ) injury unspecified 2 ) severity unspecified Should patients with AIS code 9 injuries be included in research studies? - ✔✔NO An articular fracture involves what structure? - ✔✔JOINT A fracture with three or more fragments with proximal and distal fragments not touching is defined as what? - ✔✔complex

When two ends of a bone are not aligned the fracture is called what? - ✔✔displaced When multiple bone fragments are present a fracture is called what? - ✔✔comminuted Sprains occur to joints or muscles? - ✔✔joints Strains occur to joints or muscles? - ✔✔muscles Massive destruction of a body part with damage to underlying skeletal, tissue, organ, and vascular systems is known as what type of injury? - ✔✔crush (T/F) A vessel puncture or perforation is also known as a laceration. - ✔✔TRUE (T/F) A muscle tear, rupture, or avulsion is also known as a laceration. - ✔✔TRUE Blood loss of > 20 % is approximately how many cc? - ✔✔> 1000 cc When there is any question about the severity of an injury based upon all available information the coder should chose the severe AIS code in that category. - ✔✔least Brain death/blindness are consequences of injury and can or cannot be coded? - ✔✔cannot Is a foreign body considered and injury in and of itself? - ✔✔NO (cannot code) (T/F) Bilateral injures of kidneys, eyes, ears, and extremities are typically codes as separate injuries (with some exceptions). - ✔✔TRUE (T/F) Multiple fractures to the same bone but in different areas are coded separately. - ✔✔TRUE (T/F) If multiple fractures to a single bone exist but are not specified as to location, they are coded as a single injury. - ✔✔TRUE

"GSW to abdomen" with no further description would be coded to External or Abdominal ISS body region? - ✔✔Abdominal If a single penetrating injury to the brain involves more than one structure (entry to cerebrum, exit cerebellum) do you code each region separately? - ✔✔NO (use whole area section) (T/F) When a penetrating injury exists, and using the penetrating code results in a higher AIS than using subsequent qualifiers, the higher AIS penetrating code should be used. - ✔✔True Vague descriptions such as "blunt trauma" or "closed head injury" should be assigned which AIS code? - ✔✔ 9 When assigning severity codes, the coder should use the physicians description of the injury or the AIS definition? - ✔✔AIS definition If the physicians OIS grading differs from the AIS definition of the injury, which should be used for coding? - ✔✔AIS definition If no description is available for a solid organ injury other than the OIS grade, is it acceptable to use this information for assigning an AIS code? - ✔✔YES (T/F) In order to assign an AIS code with "blood loss > 20 %" you must know to what area of the body the blood loss is linked. - ✔✔TRUE Are dimensions of lesions used to determine injury severity? - ✔✔YES In an adult, 100 % blood volume is considered approximately how many cc? - ✔✔ 5000 cc (T/F) The severity of codes in AIS are NOT age adjusted in some categories. - ✔✔FALSE Fractures may be best described in what type of report? - ✔✔radiology

Organ injuries may best be described in what type of report? - ✔✔operative Can patient or bystander reports of LOC be used for coding purposes? - ✔✔NO Which type of report is highest on the ranking of most reliable sources of injury information? - ✔✔M.E./Autopsy reports List the eight ( 8 ) types of hospital/medical record reports from highest to lowest rank in reliability of injury information. - ✔✔ 1 ) Autopsy 2 ) Operative 3 ) Radiology 4 ) Nursing/ICU 5 ) MD progress notes 6 ) ED record 7 ) D/C Summary 8 ) Face Sheet What is considered the least reliable source of injury information? - ✔✔patient List the seven ( 7 ) injury descriptions included in the ISS external body region? - ✔✔ 1 ) abrasion 2 ) contusion 3 ) laceration 4 ) avulsion 5 ) degloving 6 ) penetrating 7 ) burn A rubbed or scraped area on skin or mucous membranes caused by contact with a rough surface that removes layers is known as what? - ✔✔abrasion

1 st degree burn is described as _? - ✔✔superficial 2 nd degree burn is described as? - ✔✔partial thickness 3 rd degree burn is described as _? - ✔✔full thickness Is age adjustment required for burns? - ✔✔YES When burns are only described as combined degrees, the coder should choose the least or most severe code? - ✔✔most severe When burns occur in varying degrees, which type of burns are coded separately from the others? - ✔✔ 1 st degree When either 2 nd and/or 3 rd degree burns are < 10 % TBSA, should the 2 nd and 3 rd degree burns be coded separately or combined? - ✔✔separately If 2nd and 3 rd degree burns combined are > 10 % TBSA, they should be coded separately or combined? - ✔✔combined Burn amputations should be coded to which ISS body region? - ✔✔specific to body part Are burns coded separately from burn amputations they cause? - ✔✔NO If an electrical injury causes a "flash" burn, should the burn injury be coded separately? - ✔✔NO Frostbite is assigned to which ISS body region? - ✔✔external Asphyxia/suffocation is assigned to which ISS body region? - ✔✔Head Caustic agent inhalation injuries are assigned to which ISS body region? - ✔✔Chest

Caustic agent ingestion injuries are coded to which ISS body region? - ✔✔specific organ injured Drowning is assigned to which ISS body region? - ✔✔Chest Hypothermia is coded to which ISS body region? - ✔✔External Whole body blast injuries are assigned an AIS code of and are coded to which ISS body region? - ✔✔6;External List the five ( 5 ) body parts coded in the AIS face body region. - ✔✔ 1 ) eyes 2 ) ears 3 ) nose 4 ) mouth 5 ) facial bones What is the only vessel included in the Face AIS body region? - ✔✔external carotid (and its branches, facial/internal maxillary) What is the only nerve included in the Face AIS body region? - ✔✔optic (intraorbital) A compound fracture is considered open or closed? - ✔✔open A simple fracture is considered open or closed? - ✔✔closed The face is divided into how many sections for coding purposes? - ✔✔three A transverse horizontal maxillary alveolar fracture, or palate facial disjunction (Guerin) is known as what type of LeFort Fx? - ✔✔LeFort I

Below what anatomic landmark are the trachea and esophagus coded to the chest ISS region? - ✔✔sternal notch Which portion of the aorta is coded to the chest ISS region? - ✔✔thoracic The larynx/vocal cords are coded to which ISS body region? - ✔✔Head/Neck The shoulders are coded to which ISS body region? - ✔✔extremities/pelvic girdle (T/F) A "crush" injury to the thoracic region must be bilateral in nature? - ✔✔TRUE A "sucking" wound of the chest indicates that it is open or closed? - ✔✔open What membrane lines the chest wall? - ✔✔Parietal pleura What membrane lines the organ? - ✔✔visceral PTX/HTX fills what cavity in the chest? - ✔✔intrapleural space Is the rib cage considered a single anatomic structure for coding purposes? - ✔✔YES If you have unilateral flail chest with rib fxs to the opposite side are the injuries coded combined or separate? - ✔✔separate Unilateral rib fxs with same sided unilateral flail chest are coded combined or separate? - ✔✔combined Three or more ribs fractured in two or more places defines what injury? - ✔✔flail chest Do multiple rib fxs NFS have a specific AIS code? - ✔✔YES

A costal cartilage tear or fracture is coded as what type of injury? - ✔✔rib fx Are "clinical rib fxs" coded? - ✔✔NO (must have radiology/OR/autopsy) Can lung contusions be coded on the bases of pulmonary dysfunction alone? - ✔✔NO (T/F) Rib fractures with underlying injuries such as a lung contusion or laceration should be coded as one single injury combined. - ✔✔FALSE Injestion injuries in the chest are coded to which organ? - ✔✔esophagus (T/F) Air embolus and tamponade are codeable sequela in the chest ISS region. - ✔✔TRUE "Blast" and inhalation injuries in the chest are coded to which organ? - ✔✔lungs What should be used when a specific artery or vein is not named in the AIS description but is injured? - ✔✔other named "Incomplete transection" vessel injuries are coded as what in AIS? - ✔✔incomplete circumferential involvement What two ISS body regions may the aorta and vena cava be coded under depending on the location of their injury? - ✔✔chest abdomen The lumbar spinal cord and lumbar vertebrae are assigned to which ISS body region? - ✔✔abdomen Avulsion, complex, rupture, tissue loss, and deep are all synonyms for what severity of organ injury? - ✔✔massive What type of organ injury involves the ripping away of an organ from its vascular attachment? - ✔✔avulsion

(T/F) Abdominal compartment syndrome is a sequela of abdominal trauma and is therefore NOT coded. - ✔✔TRUE When only one ductal injury is occurs, it should be assigned to EITHER, or BOTH of the associated organs? - ✔✔either Injuries to the shoulders, hip, buttocks, and pelvic girdle are assigned to which ISS body region? - ✔✔extremities and pelvic girdle Shoulder joint injuries such as acromioclavicular and sternoclavicular are assigned to which ISS body region? - ✔✔extremities and pelvic girdle (T/F) Pelvic bones are coded to the abdominal ISS body region. - ✔✔FALSE Nerve palsy is synonymous with what type of injury? - ✔✔contusion Sprains refer to the tearing of what type of tissue? - ✔✔ligament Strains refer to the tearing of what type of tissue? - ✔✔tendon (T/F) Closed and NFS fractures share the same 7 digit AIS numerical identifier. - ✔✔TRUE Partial separation of a joint, or partial dislocation is known as what type of injury? - ✔✔subluxation Complete separation of a joint is known as what type of injury? - ✔✔dislocation The overall severity of pelvic fractures is related to or _. - ✔✔stability instability Penetrating injuries to bones and tissues are coded as what type of fractures to the specific bone? - ✔✔open

(T/F) Thumb and non-thumb fingers are separate injury categories. - ✔✔TRUE Are degloving injuries to extremities coded to the extremity or external ISS body region? - ✔✔external Does fracture displacement affect the severity of an injury for AIS coding purposes? - ✔✔NO What are the two anatomic structures of the pelvis for AIS coding purposes? - ✔✔ 1 ) pelvic ring 2 ) acetabulum (T/F) Bilateral acetabulum fractures are coded separately. - ✔✔TRUE (T/F) Bilateral pelvic ring structures are coded separately. - ✔✔FALSE The severity of a pelvic fracture is related to the extent of damage to which arch, anterior or posterior? - ✔✔posterior How many columns are contained within the acetabulum? - ✔✔two (T/F) A partial articular acetabulum fracture may involve one or both columns? - ✔✔TRUE For a complete articular acetabulum fracture to exist, separation of the attachment between the articular surface and the posterior must occur. - ✔✔ilium Bilateral proximal amputations are coded combined or separate? - ✔✔combined Level of pelvic instability is determined by extent of damage to which two portions of the pelvis? - ✔✔ 1 ) posterior ligaments 2 ) pelvic floor