Journal of trauma nursing : the official journal of the Society of Trauma Nurses
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Pediatric trauma nurse practitioners increase bedside nurses' satisfaction with pediatric trauma patient care.
Our Level I Pediatric Trauma Center employs pediatric nurse practitioners (PNP) to manage inpatients. We hypothesized that the involvement of a PNP would lead to increased nursing staff satisfaction with patient care. ⋯ Involvement of the PNP leads to higher nursing satisfaction scores compared with residents while providing equivalent care for injured children.
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Review
Cervical spine clearance in the blunt trauma patient: a review of current management strategies.
The risks of overlooking a cervical spine injury in a polytrauma patient still remain substantial even with the development of recent advanced radiologic imaging and practice management guidelines. Cervical spine clearance continues to pose a diagnostic dilemma to the trauma team providing care for these patients. There are several issues with legal, medical, and economic implications: which patient populations require cervical spine radiographs; which views should be obtained; is there efficacy in flexion/extension radiographs, CT scan, or MRI scans; in the obtunded patient can the absence of significant ligamentous injury be demonstrated; who should perform clearance methods and be ultimately responsible for valid clearance. The purpose of this article is to revisit current management strategies for clearance of the cervical spine and explore new findings if any, which have been accepted as standard of care by providers, faced with this challenging responsibility.
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The Self-Empowerment Pledge includes 7 simple promises that can help caregivers be more effective in both their personal and professional lives. When shared with trauma patients and their families, these promises can help fortify them mentally and emotionally for the challenges of recovery.
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The care of a critically ill trauma patient is complex and requires the expertise and skill of many healthcare providers. Delays in injury identification and the development of a treatment plan without considering comorbid conditions impede the patient's resuscitation and recovery from the acute injury, delay the rehabilitative phase, and increase the costs. This article will discuss a strategy using an advanced practice nurse as a case manager to assist in prompt identification of the patients' pathologic and physiologic changes and psychosocial and rehabilitative needs and to orchestrate a comprehensive and consistent plan through the continuum of care.
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Within the context of emergency management, the difference between preparedness and readiness is discussed. A 5-step approach is presented to help identify the readiness of individuals to execute their facility's emergency management plans. Step 1 is a 10-question self-evaluation. ⋯ The argument can be made that no one is ever fully prepared or is 100% ready because readiness is an ongoing development process. Although that may be true, one can reasonably prepare for identified potential events. Readiness certainly falls within the scope of continuous quality improvement.