Trauma nurses’ Role and Emergency Management skills at Tertiary Care Hospital, Lahore

Abstract

Background: Practicing in trauma unit can strengthen nurses’ knowledge about the association of past trauma and the impact of trauma on the patient’s current mental illness. An aim of this debate is to avoid potentially re-traumatizing a patient during their episode of care. This educational discussion can provide nurses with content that describes the interplay of neurological, biological, psychological, and social effects of trauma that may reduce the likelihood of re-traumatization. Although multidisciplinary environments, the translation into clinical practice by nurses working in emergency departments (EDs) is unknown. However, before ED nurses can begin to practice, they must first be provided with meaningful and specific education about their role. Therefore, the aim of this debate was to evaluate the role and emergency management skills of ED nurses. Methods: This debate was conducted as exploratory research with a descriptive study design. Quantitative data were collected with an 18-item pre-education and post-education questionnaire. Results: A total of 34 ED nurses participated in this education discussion. There was meaningful change (p < 0.01, r ≥ 0.35) in 9 of the 18-items after discussion. The debate was based on the perceived effectiveness to evaluate the role and emergency management skills of ED nurses. Conclusion: Emergency department nurses became more informed of the interplay of trauma on an individual’s mental health. However, providing care to trauma patients in an ED setting was a considerable challenge primarily due to time constraints relative to the day-to-day. ED environment and rapid turnover of patients with potentially multiple and complex presentations. Despite this, nurses played a good role to reduce the likelihood of re-traumatization.