Emergency Nursing Care for Victims of Armed Aggression at the "Sacred Heart of Jesus" Basic Hospital

Abstract

In the context of the rise of violence in Ecuadorian society in recent years, care has become increasingly frequent for patients with gunshot wounds in hospital emergencies. In the Basic Hospital "Sacred Heart of Jesus" of the city of Quevedo, this has also been verified in the relevance that the number ofthese cases have acquired. The objective of this article was to know the nursing care practices of victims of assault by weapons in the Basic Hospital "Sacred Heart of Jesus" of the city of Quevedo, given the volume of cases attended of this type of patients, being referred, deceased or not hospitalized. A descriptive research was developed about the procedures and protocols used by nursing staff to respond to these emergencies. The data on admissions and discharges, referred, deceased and non- hospitalized of these cases in the aforementioned care center were reviewed, as well as academic material on the aforementioned topic of the last eight years. It was found that the problem of armed aggression in society has been exacerbated, manifested in the number of emergency cases for this reason in the aforementioned care center and the demands that they meant for the nursing staff, who showed a good mood and professionalism. The discussion of the results showed that the problem of violence due to crime or family violence, constitutes an important public health problem, according to data in Ecuador and other countries. There is an increase in cases of victims of violence and a willingness of professionalism in the nursing staff to deal with these situations, which require a multidisciplinary perspective.