Journal of trauma nursing : the official journal of the Society of Trauma Nurses
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Experiencing a traumatic event and then the required care for the physical injuries can elicit stress symptoms in the injured child and parents. Stress-related symptoms affect a significant number of injured children and can have an impact on emotional and physical health outcomes after injury. Yet the majority of children who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder postinjury go undiagnosed and untreated. ⋯ Acute stress disorder is diagnosed when the stress symptoms persist less than 1 month postinjury and affect normal functioning. Inclusion of screening for acute stress and the development of models and guidelines are needed to systematically incorporate the care for the emotional trauma as an integral part of pediatric trauma care. Pediatric trauma nurses with knowledge and resources are in a position to minimize potentially traumatic aspects of the care they deliver, recognize traumatic stress symptoms, and help parents to support their child's coping and promote appropriate help seeking.
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Currently, there is no nationally recognized evidence-based guideline or protocol for cervical spine clearance in nonalert, noncommunicative, or unreliable pediatric blunt trauma patients. This descriptive survey study sought to identify current practices and elicit expert opinion data regarding pediatric cervical spine clearance in a specialized population of children in trauma centers in the United States. ⋯ Additional areas of interest were perceived supports and barriers to meeting target time frames for diagnostic testing and outcomes to evaluate the impact of a cervical spine clearance guideline for pediatric blunt trauma. The results from 44 respondents demonstrate that trauma centers are using a variety of diagnostic testing sequences and time frames when clearing children for suspected cervical spine injury.