Critical care nurse
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Critical care nurse · Apr 2018
The Role of Spirituality Among Military En Route Care Nurses: Source of Strength or Moral Injury?
Military nurses provide care to seriously injured service members in flight, on the ground, or at sea during transport from the point of injury to a facility capable of providing higher levels of care. From this experience nurses are at increased risk of developing negative behavioral health symptoms. Spirituality, a belief in someone or something greater than oneself, could provide behavioral health support for military nurses who serve in this role. ⋯ Spirituality can insulate military nurses from negative behavioral health symptoms. Nurses included in the study relied on their spirituality to stay mentally fit. For nurses who experienced moral injury, supervisory recognition of this and appropriate referral may decrease the long-term effects of deployment on their behavioral health.
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US Navy nurses provide en route care for critically injured combat casualties without having a formal program for training, utilization, or evaluation. Little is known about missions supported by Navy nurses. ⋯ US Navy nurses successfully transported critically injured patients without observed adverse events. Establishing en route care as a program of record in the Navy will facilitate continuous process improvement to ensure that future casualties receive optimized en route care.
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Critical care nurse · Apr 2018
EditorialCritical Care Performance in a Simulated Military Aircraft Cabin Environment.
Critical Care Air Transport Teams care for 5% to 10% of injured patients who are transported on military aircraft to definitive treatment facilities. Little is known about how the aeromedical evacuation environment affects care. ⋯ In a simulated military aircraft environment, the care of critically ill patients was significantly affected by noise and altitude-induced hypoxemia. The participants did not report much fatigue and experience did not play a role, contrary to most findings in the literature.
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Critical care nurse · Apr 2018
En Route Critical Care Transfer From a Role 2 to a Role 3 Medical Treatment Facility in Afghanistan.
En route care is the transfer of patients requiring combat casualty care within the US military evacuation system. No reports have been published about en route care of patients during transfer from a forward surgical facility (role 2) to a combat support hospital (role 3) for comprehensive care. ⋯ This is the first comprehensive review of patients transported from a forward surgical facility to a more robust combat support hospital in Afghanistan. Understanding the epidemiology of these patients will inform provider training and the appropriate skill mix for the transfer of postsurgical patients within a combat setting.