922 was elderly on Coumadin, pregnancies with and trauma. Sometimes your grateful for a few stable abdominal pains and chest pain. In many cases, patients who come in with burn injuries would have suffered other types of trauma as well, which means a burn care nurse must be skilled in several different nursing specialties. Thankfully, pastoral care and law enforcement are also there to help. The ICU lead nurse begins assessing the needs of the unit. In the level 2 hospital the trauma nurse would have trauma rooms and 2 major rooms. If you work in a trauma ICU you will definitely take care of severely injured people and many not so severely. Over time, the art of using any and all available resources to locate family members is well-polished. Often, EMS will call the ER charge nurse ahead of time and warn of incoming patients. Cutting myself short?..but trying to make the best. This is a well-oiled machine. In many instances, patients may have … Makes for very interesting days, and as JBN said there are some hospitals that have dedicated teams however, I think that is more the exception than the rule. While timing of the patient movement to the OR is completely unknown, they know the patient is arriving in the trauma bay five minutes from now. It’s a day in the life of a trauma nurse. One tried-and-true evaluation method is the old fashioned list of pros and cons. Karen Saxton, Trauma Program Director Use our mobile app to schedule a visit. At level 1 you need to patch and pass. Has 10 years experience. I am extremely excited to start nursing school this fall, but I will always remember my days as a paramedic very fondly. Specializes in ER/Trauma. My possible appy is waiting to drink contrast and head over to CT, and I’ve given a breathing treatment to my patient with bronchitis. ER trauma nurses mostly focus on stabilizing critical patients. Becoming an RN seems like the right fit, but before you take the leap, you need to be sure that it’s right for you. It is very hard to get on a designated trauma team unless you have many of years of experience and have proven yourself in the ER first. One of the most common places for a trauma nurse to work is in an emergency room, processing incoming patients. Most of the time we were overflow for the rest of the ER and could get medical codes, sepsis, strokes. Not only that but not all traumas are "balls to the walls". I loved it. They provide resuscitation efforts, (CPR, fluids), immobilization, and then ship the patient off to the ICU depending on acuity. It’s way more work than it looks like on paper. Due to rapid patient turnover, ER nurses also work across several medical disciplines. Use. Read below as I make a diary of what it’s like to work a day in the life of an ER nurse. The ICU lead coordinates any necessary patient moves with the PPU staff so that all movement occurs with ease. The thing is I'm not sure a "trauma"nurse is what you think it is and here's why. In the level 1 we had a ER Trauma Control team. One of the most fun things about it is you never know what's coming next. So you would have both trauma and medical patients. Occasionally they will support in PACU as that is another critical care environment, Thanks so much! allnurses is a Nursing Career, Support, and News Site. Trauma nurses need to be able to function in a high-stress, chaotic environment while maintaining an outwardly calm demeanor. It's not like it is on TV with a trauma every 5 minutes. We had "911" which meant they were altered, head trauma, etc and would likely need a lot of resources. Read below as I make a diary of what it’s like to work a day in the life of an ER nurse. Has 15 years experience. This is not the exception, but the rule. I have a couple of possible areas of interest, and trauma nursing is one of them. One of the most fun things about it is you never know what's coming next. For more information about trauma services at Nebraska Medicine, call 402.552.3997. There are staff outside of the ED assigned to traumas but the nursing care is usually provided by ED nurses. Some facilities trauma team may help in the ED but in my area the one hospital the trauma nurses are trained to take the patient from EMS delivery to the OR if trauma (regular OR staff handle ortho, neuro, and other specialized surgery )to the TICU.