The Educational Initiative on Critical Bleeding in Trauma was formed to assess current data and to guide future research and practice in the management of coagulopathy after severe trauma. The Educational Initiative on Critical Bleeding in Trauma recently published structured literature reviews on animal models and mechanisms of trauma-associated coagulopathy and the results of a survey of international clinical practice. The authors convened a symposium in July 2008 and invited researchers and opinion leaders in trauma care, transfusion medicine, and coagulation research to discuss current understanding and management and to identify future areas of exploration. This document reviews the content and conclusions of the meeting. The association between trauma and bleeding from patient registries, basic science, and clinical studies was confirmed, as was the association between the coagulopathy that presents early after major injury and excess mortality. Meeting participants identified the need for consensus definitions and common terminology to describe coagulopathy after trauma, including the term acute coagulopathy of trauma shock to describe the early coagulopathy induced by tissue injury/shock and the global term trauma-induced coagulopathy to describe coagulopathy after injury and its sequelae (loss, consumption, acidemia, acute coagulopathy, and dilution). Other conclusions included the need for increased clinical awareness, new methods and tools for early diagnosis, consistent early preventative strategies, and evidence-based therapies for these conditions.